Enter The Spider-Clan: Redux
by TheSenjuMan
Summary: Everything is going decent in Peter Parker's life. Until the revelation that he may not be the only person with spider powers out there. Here is the story of how a bunch of idiot teens (and one adult) managed to save New York City and possibly the world.
1. Vol 1: Who Are You

****Manhattan, New York****

*THWIP*

*THWIP*

*THWIP*

Man, I love hearing that sound! Being smart enough to build your own web-shooters really helps out a lot. Well...the web-shooters part; being super smart's not bad or anything, but if you're like me, its probably gotten you nothing but being stuffed in lockers, thrown in dumpsters, and having your head in the toilet. Jesus, that sounds even worse than I thought, ignore the previous sentence, being smart is cool! Stay in school, kids!

Boy that was schmaltzy. Who writes this stuff again? Oh right, some 22 year old dude who lives with his mom.

Ahem, anyways, you probably know who I am right now, but for the uninitiated, I'm Peter Parker, but to everyone else in the Big Rotten Apple, I'm the ****AMAZING SPIDER-MAN!**** Yeah, put that in a comic, why don't you?

Anyways, you know how I got to where I am today, spider-bite, woke up with chiseled, manly abs, Un-*sigh*Uncle Ben died, I fight supervillains with cheesy names and equally as cheesy outfits, blah blah blah. B-but this is not a tragically depressing origin story, this is where we focus on the good stuff! See, optimism!

What's that? You wanna know what's going on? Right. It's nighttime, I just got back from foiling-no I can't really call it that-a, ahem, social call with the only Black Cat, or as I know her, Felicia. How I know her? You'll see soon.

God, it's so awkward stopping her robberies; she tries so hard to pull off the whole classy cat burglar schtick. It's almost adorable. I will admit, she is easy on the eyes, but she's just too awkward. She tries too hard. I'll give you an example.

Flashback time!

* * *

_"So, here we are again, Spider," Black Cat says. We were both on one of the many rooftops in Manhattan and she's just robbed one of the fanciest jewelry stores in the whole five boroughs._

_Yeah, stakes are high._

_"So it seems, sexy cat burglar lady! Or should I say, Felicia Hardy!" I responded. I really gotta work on my heroic dialogue. _

_Felicia's eyes widened before she tried to play it cool again. "I think I might have a secret stalker," she continues, smirking and crossing her arms, which was making her cleavage more prominent than it should. Seems like she got the message too, when she struggled to zip back up her suit._

_"Goddammit," she mumbled._

_"Uh, you need a minute, there?" I asked._

_"No! I mean-maybe you should come and help me get outta this," she flirted (or tried to, at least). That 'trying to be sexy' smile was back on again. She purred and made a scratching gesture._

_"Ok stop! Just stop! This is too awkward for me right now!" I exclaimed._

_"I'm guessing you say that to a lot of your fangirls," she snarked._

_I huffed out in frustration. "No, just the unsubtle, flirty ones."_

_Felicia rolled her eyes and dug into her cleavage, taking out a rather beautiful, gleaming diamond necklace. She walked toward me, took my hand and slammed the necklace into my palm. "Dude, you've really gotta work on your game."_

_"Yeah, whatever, you wannabe-Selina Kyle."_

_"She wishes she could be me."_

* * *

SHUT UP!

Now I'm just web-slinging as fast as I can so I can make it back home. Steak, here I-

*TACKLE*

Gah, what the hell, spider-sense?! Did you take an off day or something?!

I crash down pretty painfully onto some rooftop (I'm way too distracted to really say anything about it), and dirt and dust covers my eyes. I lift myself up and I look to see-oh Christ, not him again!

"Hahaha! We know how much you hate it when we get the drop on you, Parker!"

Stupid ass echoey voice, stupid ass black alien goop suit, looks he abusing steroids, and my God, that creepy grin.

But, I gotta keep up the cocky, snarky appearance, so I smirk and put up my dukes. "Looks like the jilted lover returns."

If you don't know the story, me and some alien goop got in a relationship, and I had to call it off; I told it, 'it wasn't him, it was me'.

"We told you before, we wouldn't stop until you suffered, and you haven't suffered enough, Spider-Wuss!" Venom hissed out.

You know what, enough inner thought stuff, I'm tired and annoyed, let's get this over with!

"Bring it then, you symbiote freak!" I yelled, putting up the famous 'Bring it' gesture. We launched toward each other, punching and punching and-oh you know what I mean, it's a super fight!

Venom pushed me off of him (thank God) and I tried clocking him in his dumb face. He blocked it and spun me around and threw me into that little door entrance thing on the roof. I crashed through it and he came following suit afterwards. He lunged at me, but I turned him around and we both went plunging down the stairway.

"Watch that first step, Parker, it's a doozy!" Tall, dark and goopy said.

I just starting punching him really hard in the face, holding back his other hand, and I backhanded-more like backfisted-him into oblivion. He caught my other hand and headbutted me, making blood spill out of my nose; ah great, now I gotta wash this stupid suit again! And just for that, I got him in the nuts! Yeah, take that, f**kface!

"OOH, TOE ,TOE, TOE! Ow!" I screamed in pain, hitting my shoulder on the railway; hey, you try having your toe stepped on by a giant, steroid abusing alien monstrosity!

We both stopped tumbling down the stairs as Venom detached himself from me and jumped down the stairless, middle shaft thingy. I followed suit and saw him land on the fourth story entrance. I slung a web to the wall and landed on the ground.

Feet. First.

"Oh that kinda hurt!" I yelled, holding my right foot. I entered the-I mean-I went through the entrance, and there was no sign of Venom, but all I did see were terrified people in the hallways. I put up my right hand and said "No worries everybody, your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-"

"Surprise!" Venom yelled. He got the drop on me twice in one day! Must be losing my touch.

He webbed one of those food carts and hurled it right at me, sending me tumbling on the ground. Man, that Parker-luck just had to show up while I'm Spidey!

Venom moved toward me, but kept his distance. "Hehe, layin' down on the job, Spider-Wu-" He paused just as I got that cart off of me and I saw Venom clawing at his own face, peeling it back just enough for me to get a look.

Oh, Eddie, what happened, man?

"G-get off me!" Eddie yelled. He pulled and pulled, only barely managing to tear the symbiote off of his face. He looked at me, his eyes showing the fear in his heart. "Help u-me! Please!"

The symbiote enveloped his face again and he took off hopping, pushing one guy out of the way. "Outta my way, nerd!"

I took off running after him and saw him crash through a window, slinging onto a wall and crawling with alarming speed. I shot a web at the highest point of the building and traveled upward to the next rooftop, where once again, Mr. I'm-invisible-to-your-spider-sense got me again!

Man, am I getting rusty or something?

He pinned me down on the rooftop. "Gotcha, Parker!"

I struggled to move my arms, but it was no use; damn alien steroids!

"Come on, fight it Eddie! It's me, man, it's Peter!" I begged. "I know you're in there somewhere!" How cliche.

"Eddie's not here right now, but can we take a message?" Venom mocked. He lifted his right hand and unleashed his claws-

*THWIP THWIP THWIP*

The hell?!

Venom's finishing blow never came, and I see why; his right hand was webbed to the ground by 'not me'. Whoever this person was, they swung down and kicked Venom off of me. Venom tried to fight back, punching at the person, kicking at them, but 'Whoever' dodged all the blows effortlessly. 'Whoever' then blocked a hit and kicked Venom back, sending him staggering. The person then put her hands forward and web shot out of her fingertips.

One moment please...

...AW COME ON, THEY GOT REAL WEBBING AND I HAD TO MAKE SOME?!

Now we're back.

The person cocooned Venom in nothing but white, leaving only his head exposed. They then crawled behind Venom and got him in a headlock, choking him out. It was only a few seconds before Venom stopped struggling and passed out.

I got up and walked toward our mystery guest. "Thanks for the save, uh-" Getting a better look, I saw that this person was a girl, looked about my age, with long, scraggly brown hair, and a red mask with white eyes covering the rest of her face. She had on a red suit with a giant spider on it.

Hey, that's copyright infringement!

"Hey, Spider-boy! You done staring?" 'Web-girl' said, snapping her fingers in my face. I slapped her hands from my face.

"Oh-uh-right. So...what do I call you, Miss Web-girl or something?"

She put her right index finger on her chin. "You know, I haven't really thought this through yet, but I'll think of something soon."

"Sure you will," I snarked. "And by the way, it's Spider-'Man!' Not 'boy'!"

The girl laughed under her mask. "Not with those puberty pipes, bro." She cleared her throat. 'It's Spider-Man, not boy.' We should call you Voice Crack Boy."

"Oh ha ha," I shot back.

"Aw, relax bro. I'm just breaking your balls. Not that they've dropped yet."

"Alright, it's nice to know that I have a groupie with a sense of humor, but who are you?"

"Oh, you don't know?"

"Know what?"

Web-girl got in a thinking pose. "Hmm...nope, not gonna tell you. You're supposed to be a genius."

I heard Venom groan in pain. Uh-oh. Looks like this night-

*WHACK*

Never mind.

Apparently, my new fangirl saw this and roundhouse kicked Venom in the face.

"Back to bed, buddy," she joked. I laughed at that.

She turned toward me and did a fist pump. "Yes! I knew I could make you laugh, Peter!"

My eyes widened at hearing my name from her. "H-I don't know who thi-"

"WHAT'S THAT OVER THERE?!" she yelled, pointing somewhere. Like a moron, she made me look, and when I turned back around, she was gone.

I sighed. "This evening's been too crazy," I whispered, walking toward the unconscious symbiote freak.

I looked down at my trademarked 'Spider-watch' (not in stores yet), and it read 9:19 p.m. S**t! I totally missed dinner with Aunt May, and now she's gonna kill me with nagging! Oh I can see it now: 'Peter Benjamin Parker! Do you know what time it is?! Oh you nearly gave your dear old aunt a heart attack! You know I don't much time on this earth! You should be ashamed of yourself for putting me through that!'

That, that was my old lady voice. I know it's terrible.

I grabbed Tall, dark and slimy by the scruff of his neck and decided to drop him back off at the Ravencroft Institute. I figure since I'm in trouble anyway, might as well get something else done...

* * *

****Brooklyn Bridge****

**'Web-girl's' POV**

I sigh and look down at my airborne feet. Something told me to ask him...but I couldn't. I had a feeling he wouldn't have cared. Call me cynical, but-you know what, call me cynical.

It's been 4 weeks; four weeks and going and I've finally found him. Just don't know how I-no, we-could break the news to him. He'd probably freak out

"CLANK CLANK CLANK*

I turned to my left side and saw him climb up and take a seat next to me. "Hi Ben," I said, disappointment in my voice. Not at Ben, just at my situation.

He had on a blue hoodie with a spider on it, sleeves cut off, red pants, and web shooters on both of his wrists. Ben's my brother, if you didn't know. In fact, we're all Peter's siblings. I think.

"Did you find him, Jessica?" Ben asked, his voice full of hope. I turned toward him and nodded.

"Aw, dude, this is sweet!" he exclaimed. "I can't wait to meet him!"

"That's the problem, little bro!" I nearly shouted. "How can we just show up and be like 'Hey Peter, we're your brothers and sisters. Let's hug'?"

"Exactly like that," Ben said matter-of-factly. "Jess, with all the stuff we've seen and he's most likely seen, is this really gonna be super freaky?"

"I hope not, Ben," I said. I gave my little brother a hug. "I hope not."

"Oh, waah, waah, waah! Tch, wussies."

I rolled my eyes as I stopped the hug and looked at...ugh, my oldest brother, Kaine. He's like, 6'4", looks just like Ben, but he has a beard. Yeah, he's obviously the oldest out of us. And a massive jerkass.

He had a suit that was both red and black and it just screams '90s anti-hero!'

Kaine leaned on one of the pillars of the bridge. "Sup, wimps?"

"Not now!" I growled.

Kaine put his hands up in surrender. "Whoa, keep your panties on, ho."

Did I mention he was a jerk?

"Anyways," Kaine kept flapping his dumb lips, "you find the a #hole?"

"She did!" Ben exclaimed. God, he's so much like a little kid, it's almost pathetic. That's what I find adorable about him.

"I say we ambush him. A classic welcome," Kaine suggested.

I groaned at this. "Does everything need to be about violence with you?"

Kaine shrugged and put his mask on. "I'll be back." He swung off into the night after that. Probably gonna go beat up some thugs or whatever. You got issues, Kaine. Eff it, we all have issues.

My name is Jessica Drew Parker, and I have no idea what to do.

* * *

**I decided to revamp this story with a new plot and different characters. So what do you think should happen?**

**Read and Review.**


	2. The Girl in the Red Suit

_**_**Midtown High - Outside Food Table**_**_

****Gwen's POV****

Gwen Stacy here, live in Midtown High.

Ecch, too much like TV news.

You know, most girls would say that I'm so lucky to be the girlfriend of the amazing Spider-Man (especially that bitch Felicia), but I don't see it; I mean, of course I don't hate him, he is my boyfriend after all, but if you've hung around Peter as much as I have, you start to notice some things that a lot of people wouldn't necessarily call studly. I mean, I can't list an example off because it involves too much science talk, but you know what I'm sayin'.

My mind then shifts to other things that have happened ever since bug-boy got his powers, like...well, him gettin' his powers, the whole Lizard deal, a dude who looks like a walkin' couch, etc.

But I'm kinda gettin' off topic, let's go to some cheerful stuff..

I felt a hand touch me on the shoulder. "What the f**k, Peter?" I nearly shouted. He put his hands up in surrender. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry Gwen," he apologized. "I tried calling you three times. That music's got your head in the clouds."

Maybe he's-no, he shouldn't have snuck up on me! But I'll let it slide. I smile at him and motion for him to sit next to me. As soon as he did, I grabbed the front of his shirt and planted one on him. Hehehe, that silly lookin' grin on his face is always funny to see.

Pulling away, I notice that he has a big purple bruise on the side of his face. "Whoa bug-boy, what happened to you last night?" I asked.

He shrugged. "You know, tall, dark and goopy struck again. It's like the guy's a crazy ex-girlfriend or something, he just won't let up."

"You get your ass kicked again," I said.

"No. Pssh, nah, come on! But someone did show up." He stood up from the table and looked at me. "You coming, Gwen?"

I giggled at the sex joke. Ok, it's not a sex joke intentionally, but the words. "That's kind of a personal question, Petey."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh hardy har har. I just wanna be somewhere private."

I put my drumsticks on the side of my backpack and follow him into the school's hallways. You know, it's a really good thing there's no staff or other people inside durin' lunchtime. Probably out smoking weed, who knows.

"So there I was, pinned by goopy man, it looks like I'm gonna die, then all of a sudden, this girl shows up-" Peter began, but I stopped him.

"Peter Parker, are you seein' other girls behind my back?" I said. I know he'd never do anything like that, I'm just teasing him.

But that 'Black Cat' bitch has. No I'm not jealous...shut up!

"N-no, never, wh-what the what, no!" His voice gets all high-pitched in situations like this, it's adorable. I'll stop now.

"Moving on," he continued, stopping at his locker, which was conveniently next to mine. "this girl shows up, and it looks like she's got the same powers I got. She choked out Venom, then just disappeared. It was so crazy."

"So there's another bug-person out there beating up bad guys in his or her jammies?" I asked.

He huffed in annoyance. "T-they're not pajamas, Gwen, it's spandex. Two totally different things, babe."

I smirked when he called me 'babe'. "Alright, spandex-pajamas, how's that?"

"Now you're just teasing me," he responded. I stuck my tongue out at him as he opened his locker. "But this is serious, Gwen. This girl knows who I am!"

"What?!" I exclaim. "This is bad. Really, really, bad!"

"Tell me about it, blondie."

"Did you see her face?"

Peter shook his head. "Nah, she had a mask on. You should've seen her, Gwendy. She's a big copyright infringement sign walking, or swinging, around."

"I hope you find that girl and lay down the law," I responded.

"Trust me, I got this," he said, trying to sound badass. Key word being 'try.'

I was about to answer back, but then I heard bug-boy's homemade police scanner (the hell does he come up with that?!) go all crazy. His locker reminds me of my dad's car, only without the massive amount of shouting.

"Uggghhh, really? Right now?" Petey said.

"Why? Pooped out from last night there, spandex?" I retorted.

"No. Chemistry class is next, and that's my favorite and I don't wanna miss it!" he whined. Tch, what a baby, but he's mine, hehe. Petey then looked at me like a lost little puppy. "Gwendy, do you mind, uhhh, covering for me?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "This is the third time I've had to cover for you, dude!"

"I know, I know, but there's danger out there. Pleeease?" Goddammit, now he's clasping his hands and that puppy dog look.

Resist...

Resist...

It's too cute...will fading..."Fine!" I surrendered. Peter smiled and hugged me.

"Don't worry Gwendy, I'll be back in no time!" And there he goes again, running off to save the world. Any normal person would be kinda bitter about this, but I kinda feel jealous; running off, getting some action, being a hero, sounds kinda cool.

I smile a little bit to myself when I see him from outside the window swingin' away.

You know, I just thought of somethin': those webs ain't the only sticky white stuff that comes out of him, hehehe...

I'll stop now.

* * *

_**_**Lower Manhattan**_**_

****Peter's POV****

Why do these bad guys choose the most inconvenient times to be bad guys? Jesus Christ, I was really looking forward to Chemistry class!

I'm gonna sucker punch whoever's messing up Manhattan in the wiener this time around!

Uh-oh, spider sense tingling!

Whoop! I just back-flipped over a flock of birds coming my way; believe me, that is not something easy to do, man.

Spider-sense tingling again! Man, where were you when I was fighting tall, dark and goopy!

I look down onto the street below and I see the good ol' Boys in Blue (they're only good if they're not shooting at me) crowding all around the street and blocking off traffic.

"Yo yo, boys in blue!" I call out, landing onto the site. "Spidey's here! What the deal is?"

"Well well well, if it isn't Mr. Gay Pride of the East Side himself," one of the officers said to me.

Y-you know what, I'm just gonna let that one slide for right now.

"But you came a few seconds too late, webhead," he continued. "Our little problem's all tied up." He pointed to the left of himself. Pushing past the crowd of onlookers and officers, I saw my good ol' buddy the Shocker. God that's such a stupid name.

As I look at him, he's all tied up in...webbing?

The 'Web-girl' from last night? Nah, couldn't be, right?

I walked toward the couch wearing s**thead and ripped the cobwebs from his mouth. "Hiya Hermie!" I greeted with fake enthusiasm.

"F**k you, bug," he told me.

"How many times do I gotta tell you, man: spiders are __arachnids!__" Some people just never learn...

Hermie just gave me a grin in response. "Y'all all look the same to me."

That's racist.

"Look Hermie, I just wanna help you out, man. Now, be a gentleman and tell me who did this to you before I punch your teeth in, huh? Or you could spend the next however long it takes your buddies to bust you out of the slammer?" I know I shouldn't be this angry, but I'm missing my favorite science class, I had a rough night, and this dude's just getting on my damn nerves.

"Guess I don't have a choice. She moved so fast, even faster than you, webhead. Then the next thing I know, I'm like this."

I scoffed. "Lemme guess: she had brown hair and wore red, right?"

"How'd you know that, Mr. Psychic?"

I turned away from the villain-with-a-stupid-name when I felt my spider-sense tingle; for some strange reason, it wasn't tingling as strongly as it should've been. I looked out into the crowd of on-lookers and noticed one of them walking along. Her eyes fell onto mine and suddenly, she just took off running.

I turned back to the Shocker. "Stay," I said, like a kid to his dog. I shot a web into the sky and took off after her.

Oh s**t, almost hit a pole there!

Anyways, I'm chasing after this girl and I gotta say, she is fast! I mean, like, she could give Usain Bolt a run (hehe, pun) for his money. I see her turn left into an alleyway that I'm pretty sure is a dead end.

"Gotcha," I said to myself, landing on the ground. I knew I couldn't be too far away from her; but the moment I go into the alleyway, I see her vaulting and jumping off the walls, hanging from ladders, flipping over clotheslines...

I can do that tricky stuff, sure, but nowhere near how quickly this chick was.

I shot a web onto the wall and forced myself forward, vaulting off and jumping over one of those metal fences; I look to see that the girl was also web-slinging her way through the open skies. I forced myself to get more air time by pulling as hard as I could with one of my webs.

Ahhh, now we're back to web-slinging through the rooftops, just like last time.

Looks like I'm gaining on her now! She probably knows it by now, you can't outrun the Amazing Spider-

"Oh, goddammit!" I shout. I can't believe I forgot to refill on my cartridges last night. But I was tired!

Well, I guess it's time to get reacquainted with the ground once mor-

I feel something grab me by the back of my costume, stopping my fall. I look up to see 'Web-girl' holding me up and carrying me through the air.

"Look, I caught my prey!" she joked.

* * *

****Jessica's POV****

Man, that was a close one, catching Mr. Red and Blue Pajamas in mid-fall. I thought I was gonna break him or something.

I can't do that, can I?

W-whatever!

I land into an abandoned junkyard with the 'not-so-Amazing-Spider-Boy (yes I'm still calling him that) in tow. The landing itself was not so great; we both tumbled onto the ground and-

*BONK*

"Oh s**t!" I yelled out, hitting my head on a torn down car hood. "Oh that kinda hurt!"

Just because I'm durable doesn't mean I'm immune to pain, man!

Getting up and still holding my head, I see Spider-Bro dusting his shoulders off. "You okay there, 'Web-girl'?" he asked me.

I put my hands on my hips and looked at him. "No, no, I'm cool, dude. Small world catching you at this time of day."

"What do you want? How do you know my name? Who are-"

*THWIP*

If I did not web his mouth shut, that would've gotten very annoying. "One at a time. First: my name is Jessica. Second: I mean, it's pretty obvious that you're Spider-Man, and what do I want? I went into my thinking pose. "Hmm, I dunno, maybe to tie you up and eat you? Muahahahaha!"

I giggled when he took an awkward step back. "Gotcha, didn't I?" I joked. Peter removed the webbing from his mouth.

"You're a very weird girl, you know that?" Bro told me.

"Pssh, weird is the new normal, dude," I responded back. A couple of seconds of silence passed before I stepped up a bit closer. "Look, Spider-Bro, there's something super important I have to talk to you about."

I watched as he crossed his arms. "You couldn't be bothered to tell me this last night?"

"Hey, I was busy saving you from Tall, Dark, and Goopy, so don't put that on me! Listen, anyway bro," I started. I pulled off my mask and saw his eyes widen.

"Y-you.." Peter tried to say.

"I'm your sister, bro. Surprise," I said weakly, a nervous smile on my face.

Peter looked at me, his eyes wide with shock. After a few seconds, he did the one thing I had a feeling he'd do.

He fainted.

"Better than what I expected," I snarked to myself.

* * *

**Yes, I am using the Ultimate Marvel version of Jessica Drew. And elements of the Clone Saga.**

**Read and Review.**


	3. The Extended Parker Family Pt I

**Peter's POV**

Great. Way to go, Parker; you're really good at keeping your identity secret. First Gwen, then the Black Cat, and now my crazed groupie. She's gonna need to come up with a codename soon. That's gonna be a big problem, for sure.

Whatever. I've had a pretty eventful day.

My eyes flutter open and I'm greeted to the sight of my ceiling-wait, how'd I get back in my house? Ooooh, right. I know how.

I rubbed my head and sat up.

"Sleeping Beauty, you're awake," a voice said.

I look in front of me and saw my groupie, who claims to be my sister if I recall, at the foot of my bed playing my Xbox. "Man, you couldn't even get past level seven. Major suckage," Jennifer (I think that's her name) continued. My eyes narrowed at her as I got off my bed.

"How'd you know where I live?" I growled out.

She shrugged. "I dunno. Something just called out to me and all of a sudden, I had a feeling to take you here."

"Listen, Jennifer," I began. "This is all getting way too freaky for my liking! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hand you over to the cops!"

Yeah, that's a good threating Spidey voice, right? How was that?

I couldn't see it, but 'Web-girl' probably rolled her eyes. "It's 'Jessica'. Not that hard to remember. Trust me bro, if I wanted to kill you, you wouldn't even have woken up."

"That's _very _reassuring," I bit back.

"And you wouldn't turn your sister in to the cops, right?" she kept going. God, it's still so weird how much this girl looks like me. In the face, I mean; there are other...things people can see that can tell us apart. I am not a perv-o, by the way.

The way she looked at me also caught me off-guard: wide eyes, lip sticking out. Damn! It's the puppy dog face!

I groaned at the face she was making. "Stop looking at me like that. Please."

"Then you promise you won't freak out or try to beat me up?" Jenn-no, Jessica-said, still holding that puppy dog look. Christ, man! If Gwen can fall to pieces when I do that look, how's anybody gonna stay strong when this chick uses it?

"I promise," I sighed. She clapped her hands like some five year old kid and I sat back down.

"I know what you're thinking. 'Why? Why the must the ol' Parker Luck strike today'," she said, doing a really good impression of my voice.

Huh. I was kinda thinking that. Maybe she also has fourth wall breaking powers...

"And no, I don't have fourth wall breaking powers. Who do I look like, Deadpool?" she continued, smirking at me. "Anyways, here's how it all started..."

Oh boy, I was in for a long one.

After about ten minutes of explanation (wow, that really didn't take long), I stared at her with wide eyes. "So let me get this straight," I started. "Not only is there you, but I also have two other brothers who have spider powers just like me?"

"Yup," she confirmed, nodding.

"And you've all been around for a very long time, doing God knows what."

"Uh-huh."

"And that there's some guy out there that's been stalking you and will most likely now be stalking me."

Jessica sighed. "Si, senor."

I put my face in both of my hands. "Oh dear Lord, how am I gonna deal with this? First the Lizard, then Vulture-"

I felt her put her hand on my shoulder. "I know this is pretty hard to take all in," my 'sister' said.

"You think?" I turned toward her and looked her in the eyes. My eyes. "I-it's just so sudden. It's like a bad 90s Disney movie plot."

"Parent Trap, right?" Jessica rang out. "1998 version?"

"Yes! Exactly!" I said, agreeing with her. That's one thing we have in common: pop culture references.

I only worry how I'm gonna explain this to Aunt May...

* * *

**Ben's POV**

Uh...hi, I guess. I'm Ben Reilly Parker, and I have spider powers.

Wow, I couldn't have made it any more direct than I did just now. I'm awkward like that. Anyways, if you're expecting me to give you some kind of complicated, interesting back story, *snickers* you're out of luck. I have no clue. Only thing I can remember is a bright room, Jessica, Kaine (a-hole), and then stuff blows up. Sounds like something out of Die Hard, am I right? Yippee-ki-yay, mother#$#&er!

Now I'm just swinging around Queens, trying to find something to do around here. Aside from the slight feeling in my head that someone bad is watching me from somewhere, there's nothing really here. God, this borough is so boring. No high rises, no bad guys, no Ninja Turtles, no rhinos, no-

*SPIDER-SENSE TINGLING* Something's going on here. I look to the left of me and see the situation. AHA!

Golden. Look what we got here, boys: a...convenience store robbery.

Eh, close enough. Look out, here comes the...uh... I don't wanna say Spider-Man. That's copyright infringement and can get you sued. The more you know kids.

Anyway, this looks like a job for...uh...Spider-Ben! I'll go with that for now.

God, these are the most stereotypical robbers ever: black ski masks, shotguns, I mean really? That went out of style in the 90s, man. This is a new age! Wear suits, be deceptive, anything!

Whatever.

I swing overhead and watch them from below rushing out. Apparently, one of them took a muffin from off the counter. Not that I blame him; a muffin does sound delicious right now.

Looking down at them, I caught two of them with one of my webs and webbed them to a street light about a block away. The third one was adorable; he seems to think that running away is gonna make me quit. Oh, you are so screwed buddy, cuz Parkers don't quit.

I jumped down in front of the last bad guy and waved. "You're probably thinking: 'Wow, this just isn't my day'," I joked. I like making jokes. Wanna hear one?

Ok, here goes. What's the best part about an ISIS joke?

The execution.

Ok, that one-

*SPIDER-SENSE*

I rushed toward him at almost breakneck speed and land a few punches and finished it off with a roundhouse kick. Hi-yah! Oh yeah, I'm awesome.

Knocking him unconscious, I stood over him and shook my head. "Ah, as they say: crime never pays," I said to myself. "Pro-tip: if you wanna rob a place, don't dress like a stereotypical burglar, man."

I webbed up the last guy, hoisted him over my shoulder, and ran right over to where his buddies are. I looked at all three men in disgust.

"I'll never understand why evil lurks in the hearts of man," I said to the still conscious robbers.

Gotta work on my heroic dialogue.

I quickly ran to the convenience store where I see the terrified cashier trying to open up the register. I put my hands up to try and calm him down.

"Take it easy fair citizen! I'm a good guy, alright," I told him, using my best superhero voice He could only look at me, confused.

"Spider-Man?" he asked.

"No," I told him. "You might wanna call the cops."

I ran out and began to swing away, but not before yelling out "Sorry about your place being robbed!"

_With great power comes great responsibility,_ I recall Uncle Ben saying.

I'm gonna meet my brother I've-ok, I wouldn't say heard, but...I just remember things and I'm not sure what to call it. I just have to see him, though. Then I can have some kind of closure. Jessica and Kaine have the same problem, although a douchenozzle like Kaine probably wouldn't. Ass.

* * *

**Parker Residence**

**No POV**

Peter was sitting at his desk, about to finish his calculus homework, but the Spider-Man was stuck on one particularly difficult problem.

"Come on, what is it, what is it?" Peter huffed out.

Jessica, who was currently residing upside down on the ceiling, crawled overhead to Peter. "Here, let me take a look," Jessica suggested, holding out her right hand. Shrugging, Peter handed his notebook to her and she took it.

After a few seconds, Jessica handed it back to him. "It's four over pi," she said, an air of certainty in her voice.

"How can you be so sure?" Peter asks.

"Trust me dude, a woman's intuition," she responds, pointing at her head.

Peter rolls his eyes and looks back at the problem. "Oh my God, you're right!"

"See, told you."

"Not only do you have organic webbing, you're also smarter than me too," Peter said.

"Aw, are you jealous?" Jessica teased.

"Pssh, no," the spider-ling said, unconvincingly. Jessica got down from the ceiling and landed in front of Peter, pinching his cheek.

"Don't worry, you're still the smartest in my book," she continued. Peter slapped her hand away and rubbed his cheek.

"You really gotta watch that strength," Peter commented. "Owww."

"You know, if Kaine were here, he'd be all, 'C'mon, don't be a little wuss. It's just a cheek pinch, wimp.'" Jessica's voice turned gravelly as she did her best impression of Kaine.

"The more you talk about him specifically, the less I wanna meet him," Peter said. "Sounds like a major clod."

"He is, but we still love him. Kinda. Sorta," Jessica responded.

Peter's phone vibrated in his pocket and he looked back up at Jessica. "Gwen Stacy, right?" she commented.

"How'd you know?"

"I dunno. I just did. Dude, answer it!"

Peter walked into the bathroom and answered his phone. "Hey Gwendy!"

"Hey there bug-boy, what's going on?" Gwen asked on the other line.

_'Oh, I just met a girl with spider-powers claiming to be my sister and she told me that I have two other brothers_ _also,'_ is what Peter wanted to say, but what came out of his mouth was "Nothing, just finishing up my calculus."

"God, you're such a nerd," Gwen teased. "I just finished up band practice with the Mary Janes, so I'm coming over."

"Now?!" Peter exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's Friday night, and we agreed on it. Remember?"

Peter thought back to a couple of days ago. "Oh yeah, that's right, we did. But Gwen, um...when you come over, uh, I-I have a surprise for you!"

"Really now? What is it?" the blonde asked from over the phone.

"Uh, if I told you, it would ruin it. But you're not gonna believe it."

"Sweet! I'm coming right now!"

"No wait, wait!" Peter's pleas were finished as he heard the dial tone. He groaned as he exited the bathroom, with Jessica sitting on his desk playing with her webbing.

"Trouble in paradise," the spider-girl asked.

"No. Looks like I got a lot of explaining to do with you."

* * *

**Manhattan**

**Kaine's POV**

This place is such a f$# in' s$%^hole! Idiots walking around in a rush, workin' jobs they hate, buyin' s^&t they don't need, trying to impress mother$%^&ers they don't like. Wouldn't call that a life worth livin'.

Me, I'm not built for that kind of life. I'd like nothin' more to do than to just sit on a beach and sip margaritas with two hot bitches on both sides. Preferably givin' me the good ol' rubdown. But every time I try to think about that, six words suddenly flash in my head:

_With great power comes great responsibility_

God, I hate that maxim. Like I'm obligated to be some cape and tights wearin' superhero. That's the one thing I'm not. Just because I have superpowers does not mean-

*SPIDER-SENSE TINGLING*

I put on my mask as I feel a buzzin' in the back of my head and I jump off the high rise I was perched on, web slingin' to wherever it is that's callin' out to me.

If there's one thing I can say about these powers, they give me a good f%$#in' head rush. There's nothin' like it, and I'm not even sure if I can give that feeling up even for all the margaritas in the world.

After a few seconds, I was perched on a building, lookin' down at what was happenin': some greasy, sloppy ol' f&*k was...dear God. He had some young kid pinned against a wall and tryin' to yank his pants down.

My eyes narrowed at the sight takin' place; these nasty, perverted mother&*^ like this were everywhere. Maybe I can't stop them all, but at least this is somethin'. It's disgustin' what these sacks o' s&*t do to young kids. There's a special place in hell for a%^holes like this, and I'm plannin' on sendin' him to it.

I jumped all the way down but I was nimble, so there's no way he coulda heard me. I shot out a web and pulled him over to me. I held him up by the collar, and given that I'm like 6'4", his feet were danglin' off the ground. I slammed him onto the ground and started wailin' on the poor bastard with all my strength.

One punch should've killed the guy, but I don't do one-hit KOs. I deal in no holds barred beatdowns. I punched him so much that he started bleedin' from everywhere on his face: eyes, mouth, nose, hell, even the ears.

As soon as I stood up though, my spider-sense went off and he charged at me. I used my webbing to trip him up and I shot another web at a pipe on the wall, tearin' it off. I started smackin' him with the pipe and it broke after three whacks. The man before me was a bloodied, broken mess. As he should be.

I put two fingers up to his neck and felt nothing. Good. I turned him around, put a finger on his forehead and quickly snatched away, tearin' off some skin.

"F&*^," I commented, taking off my mask slightly and spitting on him. I looked back at the poor kid this happened to and I approached him slowly.

"Hey! Hey! Don't worry, I-I'm not gonna hurt you, big guy," I said, inching closer. I grabbed him and jumped, landin' on top of the buildin' once more. I put him down and I saw him tryin' to look away. Kids, man.

Hope I don't regret this, but this kid is scared.

I took off my mask in front of him and held out my hands. "C'mon, I'm just a normal guy. Alright, don't worry."

I got a closer look at the kid: he had brown skin, short black hair, and a black shirt with a red spider on it. I smiled on the inside.

"You like spiders?" I asked. I know, a bad ice-breaker after what happened, but it's somethin'. "Check mine out," I said, pointing to the spider-symbol on my chest.

"What's your name, kid?"

"M-miles," the kid stammered. I feel a surge of anger comin' from within, but I hold it back for the sake o' the kid.

"Alright Miles," I started. "Uh, w-where's your dad?"

After he tells me everything, I put him on my back as we both swing away to find his dad. I even let him wear my mask as we swung, on the condition that as soon as we land, he give it back.

For some odd reason, I get the feeling of someone threatening watching me, but I don't know where.

No.

Right now is not the time to be paranoid.

My name is Kaine Parker. Despite the powers, I am not Spider-Man. I am not some happy-go-lucky 'here I come to save the day' guy. I'm just a guy doing a scared kid a favor.

* * *

**Next chapter, Peter and Gwen meet the rest of the Spider family. Try to guess who this Miles kid is.**

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	4. The Extended Parker Family Pt II

**Parker Residence**

**Peter's POV**

Nightfall had just approached.

If you remember earlier, my web-shooters ran out of fluid, so here I am at my desk, refilling them. Good news is that I don't have to use crude things like toothpaste and glue; my *ahem* 'sister' offered to use her organic webbing to help out. It's so creepy that it comes out of her fingertips. It makes me shiver but it makes her laugh at my discomfort. Sadist.

I have no idea how I'm gonna explain all this spider stuff to Gwen; I mean, it's bad enough that she had to deal with the Lizard and Vulture beforehand, and I'd very much prefer it if she stayed out of my superhero life. But then we'd all know what would happen: 'No, Peter! This is my choice! I'm your girlfriend and what I say goes! I'm gonna tell Aunt May on you! This isn't fair!'

That was-that was my Gwen impression. Probably not that high-pitched, but whatever.

After tightening the screws on one of my web shooters, I pressed the button. "Gah! Mother hubbard!" I complained as the webbing shot on my face instead of at the wall.

Jessica was the on the other side snickering. "Now that's what I call a 'sticky' situation," she joked.

I groaned at that. "Bad form, dudette. 2 out of 10."

"Oh, you would've said it too," Jessica pouted, crossing her arms.

I thought long and hard (hehe) about it and you know what? "Touche," I conceded.

"See? The older sister is always right," she gloated.

"Whatever," I mumbled. What makes her think she's older than me. Not that I even think she's telling the truth about her being my sister-I don't know, man. Maybe she is; she's knows science just like I do, says bad puns like I do, we both have the same face.

*SPIDER SENSE TINGLING*

Me and Jessica both turned toward the window and we heard a thump go off at the window. I looked at her and she decided to hide somewhere.

I moved toward the window, opened it, and saw the lovely Gwen Stacy outside. "Hey there, blondie," I greeted.

"Yo, bug-boy! You gotta come see this!" Gwen stated.

I raised an eyebrow at this. "See what? Is the Vulture or Shocker out again?'

"Pfft, not those clowns. Petey, let me climb in through the window!"

I was utterly confused by this. "Uh, you know we have a perfectly functioning front door, right? It's a recent invention."

Gwen blew some hair out of her lovely face. "Stop with the sarcasm, or no kisses for a year."

It's a good thing that Aunt May had to work overtime (no it's not, she's so stressed out) because if she saw all that happening today, she'd flip her lid. And I don't wanna cause her any more stress. So I let Gwen climb through the window because I don't wanna be banned from making out with her for a year. Damned blondes and their sex appeal.

I helped her up from the window and she threw her backpack on my bed. "What took you so long, Gwendy?" I asked. "You said you were on your way, but you were two hours behind."

"Oh, me, Mary Jane and Betty were still doing our sets and then," she paused to start laughing, "this one drunk guy started hitting on Betty, she kicked him in the nuts, he threw up and then the cops came."

"Oh wow. Just out of nowhere?"

"Yup. Don't worry, man o' mine, I'm here now," she said. She got close to me and planted one on me. Seriously, Gwen just grabbed me by the face ad smacked her lips on to me. God, I love how take charge she is. She once punched Flash Thompson right in the face when she started messing with me and Ned once. Speaking of Ned, he had to go away to the Bronx for a little bit for a family emergency, in his own words. I wonder what he'd think about this whole-

"Hey Peter, did you-" I heard Jessica say as she walked out of the bathroom. Gwen caught sight of her and the two just froze.

* * *

**No POV**

Gwen and Jessica eyed each other, afraid to even move out of fear that something might go wrong. "What in the f&*k?" Gwen whispered.

"Um, yeah," Peter began, nervously chuckling. "Remember that spider-girl I was telling you about?"

"Uh-huh," Gwen said in a monotone. She was still transfixed by the sight of Jessica.

"Well, this is her."

"Rrrright," Gwen answered. She shook her head and was now sizing up the aforementioned spider-girl. "Wow. This is-I don't know what to say. You look just like Peter. But in girl form. It's like that stuff you see on the internet. What's it called?"

"Rule 63," Peter and Jessica said in unison. The two looked at each other, slightly freaked out. "Stop that! No, you stop! Ugghh!"

Gwen could only look on at the two. "Is this-she your sister, bug-boy?"

"I don't even know if it's true. She says she is-"

"And I can totes prove it," Jessica announced. "Go on, ask me anything. I won't bite. Well, not too hard, cutie."

"I don't know if that was supposed to be funny or perverted," Gwen said.

"Take your pick," the two spider-lings said in unison once more.

Peter looked at his sort-of, not entirely sure twin. "What's my middle name?"

"Benjamin. Like Uncle Ben."

"My Dad's name?"

Jessica rolled her eyes. "I already know where this is heading, bro-ham. Your dad's name is Richard, mom's name is Mary, they were both geneticists, your favorite food is PB&J with the crusts cut off-"

"Ok, ok, I get it," Peter replied, raising his hand to make her stop. "How'd you know I was gonna ask all that?"

"Twin telepathy," Jessica answered, moving her hands around and making spooky 'ooooooo' noises.

"Uh-huh, yeah, sure," Peter snarked.

"I-we are gonna have a major talk about this later on." The three sat on Peter's bed as Gwen took out her phone. "You gotta see this. It's crazy."

Gwen showed the two videos of two Spiderman-esque figures going around New York, performing random acts all around. Watching this, Peter had to admit that he was a little impressed.

"Is this Ben and...what's the other dude's name?"

"Kaine?" Jessica answered. "Yup."

"Shush," Gwen said. The trio kept watching random videos, which included one of Ben talking down a suicide jumper titled "FAITH IN HUMANITY RESTORED" and Kaine viciously beating down on drug dealers and leaving them webbed up as a message.

"Wow, it's already gotten 500,000 views in a few hours," Gwen noted.

"Well, this most certainly isn't gonna put a dent in my rep," Peter snarked. _"I already have enough problems as it is without someone impersonating me."_

"Oh stop it. Once you meet them, you're gonna love them. On second thought, Ben mostly," Jessica encouraged with a grin.

"Y'know man o' mine," Gwen began, "if they're around helping all of New York, maybe it'll be good for you. Maybe you can take a break, huh?"

"A break?" Peter replied in disbelief. "I can't take a break. Not with all the crime, the bad guys, people getting hurt." Peter ran a hand through his slightly curly hair. "Gwen...when you can do the things I can do, you gotta do those things to help. After all-"

"-with great power comes great responsibility," Jessica finished, prompting the two to look at her with wide eyes.

"If there's any doubt that you're bug-boy's sister, it has been stomped the f&*k out," Gwen commented, pointing at Jessica.

"Y-yeah. What blondie said," Peter replied. "Besides, I don't anyone stealing my thunder."

"Aww," Gwen teased, hugging Peter. "You don't have to worry. You'll always be my hero!"

For a short while, the trio were pre-occupied with talking about random things, such as Peter's obsession with pizza and Star Wars, Gwen's thing with cramps (which Peter jokingly walked out the room for only to be greeted with a shoulder punch from Jessica) and what else Jessica's into. As they spoke, however, Peter and Jessica's heads snapped toward the ceiling, and two thumps could be heard on the roof.

"What was that?" Gwen questioned, startled.

"I think I got an idea," Jessica stated. She got up from Peter's bed and crawled out the window, but not before saying "You coming?"

"Hope I don't regret this," Peter commented.

* * *

On the rooftop of the Parker house, two figures were sitting and eating from a box of pizza.

"Oh yeah," Ben said with his mouth full. "This is so bomb, bro."

Kaine, distracted by the food in his mouth, did not answer his younger brother. As he and Ben continued to eat, he saw the forms of Peter, Jessica, and Gwen (on Peter's back) crawling up. The trio were greeted by "Sup, sis" and "Sup, ho."

"Took you idiots long enough," remarked Jessica.

"Hey!" Ben said, mouth still full. "I was out doing my part and helping citizens, like a real hero should!"

_This guy sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon,_ Peter thought.

"Christ al-f^&*in'-mighty, you sound like a cheesy Saturday mornin' cartoon," Kaine commented. He soon slapped Ben's hand away from the biggest piece of pizza. "No! My piece!"

"But Kaine!" Ben whined.

Jessica pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ugh, you two."

Ben looked at Peter and smiled a giant smile. "Oh my God. It's really you! In the flesh!" The presumably younger Parker cleared. "I'm Ben and this is Kaine over here, the big douchebag," he introduced.

"Yeah, I know. She told me already," Peter remarked.

"Dude, I can't wait to tell you all the totally boss things I did today!"

Kaine surveyed Peter as he chewed through more pizza. "You're a lot shrimpier than I thought."

"Hey!" Peter exclaimed. "I resent that."

"See, what did I tell you?" Jessica commented. "Total douchebag."

"Just tellin' it like it is, ho," Kaine responded, shrugging.

"Dude! Is that pepperoni and bacon pizza?! Lemme get some of that!" Peter said, crawling on the roof over to them.

"Hey, ladies first!" Jessica said, trailing Peter.

Gwen, piggybacked on Peter, could only look on, flabbergasted at the other two; Ben looked like a carbon copy of Peter, while Kaine looked like an older, taller, bearded version of her boyfriend.

"Is this my life now?" the blonde questioned. "There's like, three other copies of my boyfriend sitting on a roof, eating pizza and we're all just like 'eh, there's no problem'-you're not even listening, are you?"

Peter, Ben, Jessica, and Kaine all looked at the blonde as they ate from the pizza box. "Sorry, did you say somethin'?" Kaine said.

* * *

From an unknown location, in a secret lab, a man in what can only be described as a discount green Wolfman costume was fiddling around with numerous chemicals. In the chambers adjacent to all the tables, on both sides, were three that were destroyed and glass on the floor.

"I can't believe they all escaped my grasp!" the weird costumed man groused. "To think, they were the perfect specimen!"

"Enough of your whining!" A female voice boomed. The weird outfitted man saw a woman with dark hair in a bun and a dark black dress approaching. The woman, although attractive, held an aura of malice within her form. "You better have made some progress!"

"That I have," the man said. "With this formula, we'll able to achieve yours and my dreams! No one will be able to stop us!"

"You better make good on your word," the woman said. She smiled maliciously. "Soon, New York. Soon your Queen shall rule you all."

* * *

**How about that, huh? Whoo!**

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	5. The Extended Parker Family Finale

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Over the past week, Peter had spent a little more time with his newly found brothers and sister. Although he was an only child, Peter deep down always did wonder what it would be like if he had a brother or a sister; to say that he wasn't expecting something like this would be putting it lightly. He was expecting at least a little brother or sister, not an oldest brother, and finding out he was a twin to a girl with a younger brother. Just like everything else in his life, Peter was finding a way to make it work, one step at a time.

Aunt May was eventually introduced to the other three spiders in possibly the most comical way possible: walking in on Jessica in the shower. After a nice ear pulling from his aunt, Peter eventually explained the situation to May, who could only give one response:

"WHAT THE F&*K?!"

Her outburst nearly brought Kaine to tears of laughter. Peter and Ben figured that Aunt May was where their oldest sibling got his potty mouth from. When everything cooled down, May sat them all down and had an honest discussion about them. She was especially taken with Ben, telling him that his name was special and that it was important for him to live up to his uncle's maxim. When May noticed that all four of them were taken by her meat loaf, she immediately believed that they were siblings. She also implemented a swear jar for Kaine, much to his chagrin.

The first thing they did together was go out shopping for most clothes since the estranged trio had nothing else but their costumes to wear. May basically dragged Jessica throughout all the stores in Queens, much to her horror. Ben refused to get rid of his sleeveless hoodie, no matter how much Kaine and Peter tried to force him to do so. He described it as 'a part of me'. Kaine took a liking to wife beater shirts and jeans, thinking it makes him look like a badass.

On the personal side, it was easy for Peter to bond with Jessica and Ben; they were the most similar to Peter. Whether it be sharing horrible one-liners, nerding out over Star Wars and other sci-fi media, Peter quickly found the two easy to get along with. Especially during their outings on patrol.

* * *

**Flashback**

**Flushing, Queens**

_"He just had to choose today, didn't he?" Spider-Man complained as he dodged multiple bullets from one Kraven the Hunter. A big game hunter as he liked to call himself, he decided that the spiders were now his next prey._

_"I could always-oh Jesus!-use the workout," Jessica responded as she ducked Matrix-style to avoid a roundhouse kick from Kraven. _

_The two became engaged in a serious hand to hand fistfight; at one point, Kraven attempted to use pesticide gas to put Jessica under, but her spider sense quickly caught on and she grabbed the canister, crushing it with one hand._

_"I've never seen a specimen like you, She-Spider," Kraven commented. He caught one of her fists and tried to hit a pressure point between her index finger and thumb, which she blocked effortlessly._

_"I try," Jessica said before headbutting Kraven so hard that he went back a few feet. Blood coming out of his nose, Kraven took out his hunter's knife and charged toward Jessica, who cocked her fingers like a gun and shot webbing at his feet, tugging on the web and tripping him up._

_"NOW, SPIDER-LAD!" Spider-Man shouted. He and Ben jumped down from the streetlights and webbed up the hunter, placing him in a spider cocoon._

_"Nice work," Spider-Man congratulated to his siblings. "You got some serious hand to hand skills."_

_"I try," Jessica admitted. "That was intense."_

_Kraven glared at the three. "You may have triumphed this time, spiders, but you will never get-"_

_"Oh shut up!" Ben said, webbing Kraven's mouth shut. For good measure, Ben leaped toward the hunter and clocked him straight in the jaw, knocking him out. "All in a day's work for the Web Warriors!"_

_Peter and Jessica looked at Ben. "Tch, lame!" Peter mocked._

_"Better than Spider-Lad," Ben bit back._

* * *

After more of their exploits were broadcast over the news and internet, the people of NYC soon began dubbing Jessica 'the Red Widow' and Ben 'the Hooded Spider.'

Kaine, on the other hand, was like a complete puzzle to Peter. It wasn't so much that he hated him, but he felt that he and the older man had little in common. Peter liked science, Kaine was a sports guy; Peter was lithe and athletic, Kaine was built like a heavyweight boxing champion; Peter was calm, jokey and mild-mannered, but Kaine was ill-tempered, arrogant, and violent. Peter offered to help Kaine on his patrols, but he steadfast refused.

* * *

**Flashback**

_In the First Bank of Manhattan, there were scores of men in tactical gear wielding machine guns, holding the people inside of the bank hostage. They were a gang known as the Jade Syndicate._

_"Come on, hurry up," the leader of the thugs said, aiming his machine gun at the bank teller._

_One of the thugs, standing guard near the hostages, heard the sound of a crying baby. He turned his gun toward the mother of the child. "Better shut that kid up if you know what's good for you," he threatened._

_One of the hostages, feeling brave, tried to charge at the thug. The thug opened fire and sprayed the man in a hail of bullets, killing him instantly. The hostages all screamed in pure fear, until the leader shot his gun into the air._

_"EVERYBODY SHUT THE F&*K UP!"_

_On the rooftop of the bank, Kaine stared down through the window at the whole situation. "That's it. It's go time, mother&*$," he declared. He jumped through the glass into the fray, and his spider sense went into overdrive; he jumped between two guys trying to shoot at him, which made them shoot themselves. He approached another thug and knocked the gun out of his hand and webbed him up, knocking his lights out as he did so. The final thug, guarding the hostages, tried to shoot Kaine, but without even looking, Kaine shot a web and pulled the thug toward him, hoisting him up._

_"Wrong move, hero," the thug mocked, attempting to reach for his pistol at his side. Kaine quickly slammed the thug down and used his stingers to gore him in the stomach._

_"Bitch."_

_The leader of the Syndicate approached Kaine, but the oldest spider webbed a flag pole toward him and hit the leader upside the head with it, rendering his skull cracked._

_Kaine let out a sigh of relief and looked at all the hostages. "Word of advice: sue this place for not havin' armed guards. F&*kin' morons."_

* * *

Peter and his friends learned that the media dubbed Kaine 'the Scarlet Spider.' Personally, Kaine, in his own words, thought the name was "f&*kin' retarded." While everyone else out there would say that those guys had it coming, Peter saw it differently.

* * *

**Flashback**

**Forest Hills, Queens**

_"What the f&*k are ya talkin' about?!" Kaine raged. He and Peter were in the living room arguing._

_"You know there was no reason for you to kill those guys like that!" Peter retorted._

_"They had guns pointed at innocent people! The f&*k was I supposed to do?!"_

_"Take them out non-lethally, for one!"_

_"Oh, sure. That woulda fixed everything! Ya know, I wonder how many bad guys wouldn't be f&*kin' with us if you'd let me deal with 'em?"_

_"That's not the way, Kaine. How can you live with yourself knowing you've killed people?"_

_The eldest sibling huffed and clenched his fists. "They had it comin' Pete. There's no good in the filthy sons of bitches I've had to put down. Just last week, I put down a guy who was tryin' to molest a kid. A f*&kin' kid!"_

_"And you just sent him to the morgue, huh?" Peter retorted, derisive._

_"Yeah, well what do you do? Beat up bullies with ya fists like it's a playground! Then they're back on the streets doin' the same s# again!" Kaine argued._

_Ben, Jessica and Aunt May eventually came to break up the argument, with Peter turning away from Kaine and saying "I want you to think about how that kid you saved looked at you."_

* * *

The two eventually managed to put all that behind them and agree not to get in each other's way on patrols.

Overall, Peter found that he was doing pretty alright for himself. But soon, the ol' Parker luck will strike again; this time, all four of the siblings would feel it.

* * *

**The plot will begin to pick up next chapter. I just wanted to complete the full introduction and showcase the siblings.**

**Read and Review.**


	6. A New Player Emerges

**Just to clear a few things up: Peter is not apprenticed under Tony Stark but he does know about the Avengers.**

**And Captain Stacy, Gwen's dad, is unfortunately dead in this story.**

* * *

**Manhattan**

In the dead middle of the night, one girl with stark white hair (that she swears is blonde), was ascending up a rooftop by a rope, clad in a leather outfit and a domino mask, holding a brown bag filled with expensive jewelry. The girl had a smile on her face.

"Hehe. Too easy," she said to herself. The girl was Felicia Hardy, better known as the Black Cat. A well known cat-burglar all around New York, she was known for never being caught by anyone, not even the best of detectives. That was until Spider-Man showed up.

Running from rooftop to rooftop, Felicia couldn't help but to think about the Spider; their first few encounters were easy for her. After all, when you're as attractive as she is, it's easy to manipulate a hormonal, awkward, sixteen year old boy. Not that she herself wasn't awkward, but she liked to think that she hid that part of herself so well. However, she soon noticed that he was getting rather annoyed by her instead of fascinated and charmed.

_We can't all be winners, I guess," _she thought to herself as she vaulted over the ledge of a rooftop. Landing with cat-like (get it) grace, she continued on, only to be surprised by the sound of web silk going off near her. The Black Cat was greeted to the sight of a girl around her size, with vibrant brown hair and wearing a red outfit with a white spider on it. Her mask also had white eyes.

"Y'know, in the future, if you wanna steal jewels, here's a little tip: don't dress like a jewel thief, man," Jessica (or the Red Widow) snarked. When the spider-girl took a good look at the Black Cat, her eyes widened a little bit.

_Damn, she got a sweet bod, though,_ she thought to herself. _Oh my God, did I really just think that?_

"Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer," Black Cat sniped. Jessica shook her head and focused back onto the thief.

"So you're that Red Widow chick," Black Cat continued. "Seriously, is there, like, a f&* goody two-shoes infestation in New York or something?"

"At least you didn't say a spider pun," Jessica mumbled. She looked at the cat-themed thief with narrowed eyes. "Ok, you've had your fun, Pussy Galore. Now hand over whatever you stole and come with me."

"Tempting. Why don't you come over here and make me?" Black Cat challenged with a smirk. "Don't worry, I won't bite. Well, not that hard."

"God, P-I mean-Spiderman was right," Jessica began. "It is all about sexual innuendos with you."

Black Cat shrugged. "What's life without them? Pretty dull."

"Can we get down to the part where we beat the crap out of each other?" Jessica questioned, getting into a fighting stance.

Black Cat followed suit. "Sure. Foreplay is pretty fun."

"God, you and the sex talk! You cannot do that! It distracts me!" Jessica exclaimed. The two approached each other and starting throwing punches, kicks and elbows. Dodging an elbow to the temple, Black Cat had to admit that she was surprised.

Jessica threw Black Cat with a judo flip and was about to step on her midsection before being interrupted with a kick to the forehead. Stumbling back and with her hand to her forehead, she managed to jump over a sweeping leg kick before casually redirecting one of Black Cat's fists away from her, and punching her square...in the rack.

"Gaah! S*&t!" Black Cat swore, covering her chest. "Dude! The f&*k?!"

"What?!" Jessica responded, still nursing her sore forehead.

"You just punched me in the boob!"

"Well _you _kicked me in the forehead!"

"But dude, you just violated the Chick Code: never punch a girl in the boob!" Black Cat argued. "Jesus Christ," she winced. "Y'know, there is one thing you can do."

"Take you to the slammer and have a good night's sleep?" Jessica snarked.

"Hell no! You could always, well, kiss it and make it better," Black Cat offered, pulling the zipper of her catsuit down slightly and giggling.

Jessica rolled her eyes at the gesture. "Look here, kitty. As much as you are attractive-and I mean, like, banging hot-I'm gonna have a give you a hard pass on that."

"_Hard_, huh?" Black Cat said, a mischievous smile on her face.

"What is it with you?" Jessica began. "First, you're complaining about me punching one of your sweater puppies, and now you're making sex puns so bad that middle school boys would look to you for advice."

"It's just how I am," Black Cat admitted. "You'll never get a dull moment around me." She proceeded to leg sweep Jessica on the floor, then pin her.

"How about now? Do you like?" the white haired thief said, looking down at Jessica.

"Yes," Jessica said, entranced. "I-I-I mean, uh, well you see-"

The spider-girl's stammering was interrupted by Black Cat giggling. "Oh man," she said in between laughs. "You are such a dork."

Jessica pushed Black Cat off her, who was still laughing. "Look, Octopussy," she began. "I've had a really rough week and I'd rather be at home sleeping, so why don't we just call this a day?"

"Didn't seem like it a few seconds ago," Black Cat retorted, making Jessica blush.

"I-I was distracted! Not by you-ugh," Jessica stammered before webbing Black Cat's feet to the ground. The thief unleashed her clawed gloves, ready to cut the webbing, until Jessica caught it with her spider sense and leapt behind her. She grabbed both of Cat's hands and webbed them together behind her back.

"So, you're into bondage, huh?" Black Cat questioned. "If we ever see each other again, just to let you know, I'm not averse to a little girl-on-girl action."

Jessica sighed as she hoisted the thief over her shoulder. "I'm in for a long night of this, aren't I?"

* * *

**The Next Day**

**Queens**

**Midtown High**

Peter and Gwen, the first thing they did when they got into school, was catch the sight of Ned Leeds. Peter and Ned quickly walked up to each other and did their secret, not-totally-geeky handshake, prompting Gwen to shake her head and smile at the two.

"Why do I always forget that you two are total nerds," she joked.

Ned and Peter pouted. "I resent that," Ned started.

"Yeah, Gwendy. We're bookworms, there's a difference," Peter clarified.

The three went through the first half of their classes as normal before lunchtime; to all three of the teens, academia was pretty simple and straightforward and they (mostly Peter) never quite understood why people thought that school was so hard.

During lunchtime, the three sat together at one table, far away from the other students, discussing things.

"Dude, that's insane," Ned commented. "Some Russian guy came up and tried to take your pelt?"

"That's not even the craziest part," Gwen muttered to the two of them.

"But dude, did you hear about the new spiders coming around? That Red Widow girl is hot," Ned said, a dreamy look in his eyes.

"About that, Ned. They're...kinda..sorta...my brothers and sister."

"Never mind about the Red Widow being hot," Ned backtracked, making Peter chuckle at him. "Dude, you have siblings? How come you didn't know about them before? How'd they even show up here?"

"I don't know, man, it's a mystery even to them. Look, I was swinging around, I met this weird girl, she took me to these two guys, and there you go," Peter explained.

"Riveting way to say it, bug-boy," Gwen sniped.

"Th-that's what basically happened!" Peter defended.

"Pete, it's cool," Ned placated, patting Peter on the back.

"Ned, two of them are pretty much just like me. I mean, literally, you could tell we're related."

"Twins?"

"Twins."

"I don't know what I'm gonna do," Peter groaned. "I mean, I like them-Kaine, maybe-but, but-"

"What?" Ned egged on.

"What if it's like another Uncle Ben situation. Like I'm not there and something super bad happens?"

Gwen and Ned went silent at the question, not sure of what to say.

"Just last week, Gwen, Ned, you weren't there, but Ben told me something that-I don't what to say-"

* * *

**Flashback**

**Parker Residence**

_Peter and Ben were sitting on the couch, watching episodes of Rick and Morty and laughing._

_"They're just robots, Morty," Ben repeated._

_"It's ok to shoot them, they're robots," Peter finished._

_The two bro-fisted as they continued laughing._

_"Aw, man, that's funny," Ben said._

_"I know, right?" Peter replied._

_"Hey Petey?"_

_"What up?"_

_"There's something super important I gotta ask you," Ben announced. Peter looked at his presumably younger brother. "Do you-do you think we're, like, a burden?"_

_Peter's eyes widened. "What makes you say that? I like it when you're on patrol with me."_

_"I know, but-oh it's so stupid. I feel like you're just-ugh, like you're just taking us with you all because we have powers and you have powers..."_

_"Ben. I'll admit, it makes things easier, but you, Jessica and Kaine are my family."_

_Ben sighed at the non-answer. "I just wanna be like you, Petey."_

* * *

"I mean...damn, that's heavy," Ned said.

"You just don't want them to get hurt, don't you?" The way Gwen said it felt more like a statement than a question.

"That's about it," Peter answered. He was about to continue before a vibration went off in his pocket. Peter took out his phone and looked at it before looking back up at them.

"Bad guys?" Gwen said.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, Pete. We'll cover for you," Ned assured, giving his friend a thumbs up.

Peter smiled at the two and then snuck out of Midtown High, ready to go confront whatever danger out there.

* * *

**Manhattan**

**Times Square**

The square was reduced to pandemonium, with crowds of people screaming and fleeing in fear, police officers surrounding the area, and shooting at a green, manic figure, who was jumping around and randomly kicking the police officers and shooting people of his choice.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" the green figure laughed, backflipping onto a police car and shooting a shotgun in the air. He managed to dodge the bullets of one police sniper before cocking the shotgun and shooting him dead.

The green figure looked at the shotgun in disgust before throwing it at a SWAT car and breaking the windshield. "Oh well, weaponry like this bores me."

"Then you're gonna love me!" a voice erupted. The green figure was caught off guard when Kaine, the Scarlet Spider, swung toward him and kicked him in the face, sending him flying back. Kaine landed on the ground, nimble and silent.

"WHOOO!" Ben, the Hooded Spider (he could use a new codename) whooped in excitement as he ran toward the green figure and started fighting him.

"Hold it!" Captain Jean DeWolff stated, approaching the Scarlet Spider. "I don't tolerate random vigilantes impeding on situations like this. I'm taking both of you in."

"Lady, are you stupid?" Scarlet Spider said in disbelief. "We really gonna argue about this now? You and ya pussy brigade are no use in this fight and ya know it. Now get outta here and go eat some f&*kin' donuts! I got this!"

Scarlet Spider leapt away before DeWolff could chew him out. He rapidly approached the green figure, who sent the Hooded Spider flying into one of the stores in the square. Scarlet went into the store and helped his brother up.

"Hi, bro," the Hooded Spider said.

*SPIDER SENSE TINGLING*

The two spiders dodged the incoming green figure, who then locked himself in combat with both of them.

"Who the f&*k are you?!" Scarlet shouted, narrowly dodging a roundhouse kick to the face.

"I'm many things, my boy, but you can call me the Jackal!"

The name alone caused Kaine to freeze up, which allowed the Jackal to flip him and throw him back into the open areas of Time Square. Ben tackled the manic Jackal onto the streets.

"I got a new name for you: the Jackass! Ha! Get it?" the hero mocked.

The Jackal growled. "I can't wait to shut that mouth of yours!"

"You think he's bad? Wait till you see me!" The Spider-Man himself jumped into action, leaping on top of the Jackal and using his web shooters as a makeshift rope to tie around him. He used this to toss the Jackal into one of the police cars.

"You guys all good?" Spider-Man asked.

"Fine. Till you showed up," Scarlet Spider growled, shaking his head.

"Bro, what the hell was that back there?" the Hooded Spider said. "You just kinda blanked out on us."

"I dunno. Anyway, let's get that sack o' s&*t-"

"OH MY QUEEN!" The Jackal rang out. The three spiders looked on in confusion before being greeted to the sight of someone leaping onto the ground and landing perfectly on their feet. The woman turned and shot her hand out toward the police brigade, blocking them off by igniting the fires of their police cars, making it so that no one could cross.

The three spiders saw a woman in a black dress, with snow white skin and dark hair in a bun turn toward them. Her eyes were harsh and malicious.

"Lemme guess, you're Elvira, Mistress of the Dark," quipped Spider-Man.

"Nah, man, it's Morticia Addams," the Hooded Spider said.

Scarlet Spider quickly leapt into action. However, before he could reach her, his entire body froze, allowing the woman in the dress to pummel him relentlessly. The two other spiders also sprung to action, for the worst; Ben was quickly taken out by a punch from the woman to the head, knocking him wholly unconscious. Peter fared a little better before being taken out by a kick to the face.

The woman looked down at all three of them. "Excellent work, Jackal. You had to be useful for something, after all."

"Whatever you desire, my queen," the manic green man. The Queen and the Jackal grabbed all three Parker brothers and hoisted them over their shoulders.

* * *

**Guess what this story's inspired by and you get a cookie.**

**Read and Review.**


	7. A Retarded Plan and a Revelation

**?**

A groaning Peter fluttered his eyelids open but soon squinted at the bright light shining above. He looked at his hands and found himself chained in a way that both he was dangling from off the floor. His surroundings were completely unfamiliar; it looked like a lab of sorts, with the pristine silver tables, numerous amounts of chemicals aligning the tables and the shelves, but the most disturbing part was this: there were multiple large capsules on both sides of the lab, with people either asleep or unconscious residing within them.

"The hell?" Peter whispered, looking around the place. One on table, he saw his two newly found partners strapped to silver tables. "Ben? Kaine?"

"Only you and me, Spider-Man," a voice rang out. Peter turned to the side and saw someone ascending the stairwell; when the person showed up, he recognized her as the woman he fought briefly with long ago. Peter attempted to will himself to break out of these chains, but for some odd reason, he found himself unable to do so. As if there was something blocking his will.

"Or should I say, Peter Parker?" she continued. The woman was now clad in a black one piece suit with a golden spider on it, along with a purple hooded cape.

"H-how do you my name?"

"The thing about your pathetic battles and injuries? They leave behind a lot of blood and other materials."

"Where am I? Wh-what the he-" Peter's ravings were cut off when the woman shot toward him and kissed him. He naturally recoiled away from her, but couldn't move back very far. Once the woman ended the kiss, she smirked at him.

"THE HELL?" Peter shouted at her. His shout managed to bring Ben and Kaine out of their slumbers.

"Ugh, man, the hell are we?" Ben said.

"I feel like s&*t," Kaine groaned. The two also tried to move out of their restraints, but to no avail.

"You are going to make a fine Spider-King, Peter Parker," the woman said wistfully.

"Alright, I've had enough," Peter growled at her. "Who the hell are you?!"

"Since you've asked so nicely, I figure no harm will be done." The woman paced around Peter, eyeing him up and down. "I am Adriana Soria. One of the first women in American history to join the military. I fought alongside Captain America. Unlike that twit, I didn't need some super serum to attain greatness. I did it on my own merits. My own hands."

"Bravo, lady. Don't you feel special?" Kaine snarked.

"Shut your filthy mouth, clone!" the woman, Adriana, seethed at Kaine. Kaine and Ben's eyes widened at the use of the word 'clone.'

"I would've ruled it all. I could have easily been the most influential person in the world after the war. But of course not. Because I was a _woman_, your stuffy government simply wouldn't allow me to take that power from them and show them how to rule properly!"

"Oh, boo-f&*-hoo!" Kaine retorted. "Those meanies wouldn't let you play world dominator. Oh shut the f&*k up!"

"My God, lady, are you gonna explain your evil plan soon?" Ben sniped. "I can almost feel myself falling asleep, here!"

Adriana walked over to the table Ben was strapped to and began wringing his neck. Peter and Kaine struggled to free themselves.

"Hey! Leave him alone, you psycho!" Peter shouted.

"Crazy bitch!" Kaine insulted.

Adriana released her hold on Ben and sauntered back to Peter. "It was only because of my genes and raw determination that I got here today. Now that I am, there's just one more component in this scheme." She stroked Peter's cheek, whose face shriveled up in disgust. "The Web of Life. Everyone else thinks I'm insane, but I know it must be true. And to test that theory, I've been supplying Jackal with the necessary components to try and replicate you, Peter."

"Replicate me?" the aforementioned Spider-Man questioned. "Lady, I swear if you don't start making sense..."

"The first attempt was successful," Adriana continued, ignoring him. She turned her sights onto Ben and Kaine. "The other-where's the other one?"

"Other who?!"

"Never you mind," Adriana said.

"Clones? Attempts? What the f-" Peter stopped himself as he came to a realization. "Wait a minute...Ben? Kaine? She can't be-no, no, no! Oh my God, y-you're clones of me?!"

Adriana continued on. "The Web of Life states that people who possess a spider-gene have a substance called 'larmocks' in their bodies. And when you can consume people with a spider-gene, the larmocks get transferred to the person consuming them, giving them immortality and control over the spiders."

Peter, Ben and Kaine all fell silent at the explanation for a few seconds until Kaine broke the silence. "Lady? Do you realize how f^&*in' retarded that sounds?"

"Is it retarded that I wish to prolong my life and rule the world while I'm at it?!" she questioned harshly.

"Yyyyyes," Ben said. "It is profoundly retarded."

"I thought at first that you would be an obstacle in my grand plan, but I greatly overestimated you." Adriana chuckled at the three. "You're all so compelled to help any situation that you can that you ignored the big picture."

"Oh, when I get out o' this, I swear to f&*^in' Christ..." Kaine warned.

"There are sensors placed all over New York City. Once they go off, everyone will be granted spider attributes at the molecular, genetic level."

"So...your grand plan is to turn everyone into spiders so that you can rule the world, be immortal, and have an army at your disposal?" Ben questioned.

"This is starting to sound like a bad comic book plot," Peter commented.

"It gets better," Adriana continued, a manic smile on her face. "You're going to be my king."

Peter, Ben and Kaine laughed in disbelief. "Y-you can't be serious with this, right?" Peter said. Adriana didn't respond. "Oh good Lord, you're serious."

"And soon, I shall be your queen," she finished. Adriana grabbed Peter's face roughly and bore deeply into his eyes; Peter could feel a lingering presence in his mind, giving him a sense of belonging and wanting with this woman.

She moved on over to Kaine and did the same thing. "Lemme go, you crazy c&*ksucker!" Kaine shouted, trying to get his face out of her grasp. After a few seconds, she let him go.

Adriana was distracted when she heard a vibrating sound from Peter's pocket. She walked back over to him, grabbed his phone and answered it.

"Bug-boy?" came the voice of Gwen Stacy. "You there?"

"Gwen, it's-" Peter was punched in the stomach.

"Miss Stacy," Adriana began, "you don't know who I am, or what I'm capable of just yet. But soon, you and everyone else on this miserable rock will. I guarantee it.

"GWEN!" Ben shouted. "GWEN! IT'S BEN!"

Adriana crushed the phone in her hands before looking up at Peter. "I'll leave you alone to...ponder about this." She walked back down the stairs, smirking to herself.

"You two are clones of me?" Peter questioned, completely baffled. "That means Jessica..."

"I'm sorry, Petey," Ben started. "I didn't-we didn't know what to say."

"I still can't believe this."

"No! Don't do this to us, shrimp," Kaine began. "What were we supposed to do. 'Hey Peter, we're clones of you that escaped a crazy bitch and her green possible f&*k toy?' How would that've sounded?"

"I can't believe I didn't see it the whole time," Peter said. This time, his voice was starting to become monotone.

"Yeah, you'd have to be pretty stu-"

"I am meant to be the Spider-King," Peter said.

Ben's face scrunched into confusion. "What?"

"Yeah. Actually, Petey, that lady seems like she knows what she's doing," Kaine said.

"Ok, what the hell are you two talking about?" Ben said.

Peter and Kaine looked at Ben. "We've now realized our purpose," the two said in unison. "To serve our Spider-Queen."

Ben's eyes widened as he now realized what was going on. "No. Aw, come on, you two! NO!" He finally found the will to break free from his restraints and he leapt from the table. Peter and Kaine also broke free and both of them tried to tackle Ben, who dodged with a well placed spider web to one of the walls, pushing himself forward.

"You're not thinking straight, bros!" Ben shouted, dodging a punch from Peter but catching one from Kaine. Ben was launched into one of the capsules in the lab, breaking the glass door of one.

Kaine launched at Ben again and Peter joined in with punches and kicks; Ben honestly tried to dodge all the attacks and threw some back, but soon, the two of them began to overwhelm the blue hoodie wearing young man.

Bloodied and bruised, he leapt over them, making them knock into each other.

Ben grabbed some random chemicals from off one of the tables and combined them together, throwing it at the ground and emitting a smoke cloud. "Don't worry, bros!" Ben yelled. "I'm coming back for help, alright?!"

He punched a wall, creating a hole which he jumped through. He landed in a small river of sewage and began running as fast as he can.

"I'm coming back," he reassured himself, making splish sploshes as he ran. "I'm coming back. I'm coming back."

After running for what seemed like an eternity, he came across a ladder. Not even thinking about anything else, he quickly climbed up the ladder and punched through the covering.

* * *

**Off the coast of Staten Island**

**Isle of Meadows**

Ben climbed through the covering and found that he was on a small island covered in green trees and other shrubbery, along with black rocks coating the shores. He ran away a good thirty feet from the covering before tripping.

"Oh, God. Oh my God!" Ben said to himself. "This can't-no, oh my God! Peter. Kaine."

Ben looked all around himself. "HEY! YO! IS ANYBODY OUT HERE?! SOMEONE HELP! HELP!" The spider enhanced young man looked down at the ground, his breaths quickened and panicked. He picked himself up and kept on running. "Jessica? Gwen? ANYBODY?!"

"What am I gonna do? What the hell-PLEASE! SOMEBODY!"

* * *

**Things are starting to heat up. Next chapter, we go back inland to the city.**

**As always, read and review.**


	8. The Calm Before the Storm

**Back in NYC **

**Inland**

**Sundown**

Although it took a good twenty minutes before it showed up, Ben managed to web sling and crawl from the Staten Island Ferry all the way back over to the Brooklyn Bridge. When he fell onto the bridge, he had to take a moment to lean against one of the railings and breathe quickly. "I gotta find sis. I got-I gotta get Petey and Kaine back," he whispered to himself. He hadn't even been in Peter's life for a month and already they were going up against crazy green guys and some wacko loopy head case.

Ben stared off into the sunset and was wondered how Peter and Kaine were all of a sudden brainwashed by this Soria woman but he wasn't. Perhaps it was because they were both stronger or just overall better and him, because she was kind of attractive; he honestly didn't know.

What he did know was that he had to get help quickly. He pointed his webs at two flagpoles atop the overpass of the bridge and slowly took steps back, creating tension between the webs and the flagpoles. He heard the metal poles creak as they back. Then, he propelled himself forward, launching himself into the borough of Manhattan.

Ben felt the wind of the propulsion against his face and he held his arms apart, ready to shoot more web if necessary. Knowing the Parker Luck, that would be very-

*WHACK*

-soon.

* * *

**Times Square**

Meanwhile, also in Manhattan, Jessica was crawling on the walls of the outsides of various stores, trying to find any sign of her brothers. It had been hours since she last saw the three and would've expected a call or at least some kind of contact between them. Alas, there was nothing and Jessica was taking it upon herself to find her three nimrods.

"BEN?!" she shouted, reaching the roof of one of the buildings. "PETER?!"

She turned her head toward the crowds of people and police blockades and clean-up crew that aligned the usually cheery, bustling square. She caught no sign of either Peter, Kaine, nor Ben.

"Come on, where the hell are you three?" she questioned loud, standing on the ledge of the high rise. Jessica soon felt a hand on her shoulder and the young woman nearly jumped a foot into the air. She knelt down into a pose, ready to attack if so.

"Ben?" she said, looking over at her brother. Her brother in question had his hoodie rumpled and was covered in sewer water. "I forgot, we don't set off each others' Spider-Sense. Dear Lord, you smell."

"Enough about that!" Ben said, his voice frantic. "Jessica, something's going down, I don't know yet, Peter-Kaine-Spider-Queen lady-morlock-"

Jessica cut Ben off by slapping him in the face. "Calm down! One at a time, my dude. Now what were you saying?"

Ben took a deep breath and started over. "Ok, so me, Petey and Kaine, we were down here fighting some green guy, right? Then some crazy lady showed up and kidnapped all three of us. A-a-and then she talked about how we have something called marlocks or something in our bodies-"

"Marlocks?" Jessica said in disbelief.

"I-I know it sounds stupid but listen," Ben continued. "There's something weird going on, and now Pete and Kaine are, like, brainwashed or something! I think she said she wants to turn all of New York into spiders. We gotta do something!"

"What?!" Jessica exclaimed. "Spiders?"

"Yes! For God's sakes, sis!"

"Wait, you said something about a green guy," Jessica replied. "Is it..."

"Yeah," Ben confirmed. "Him. Peter knows now."

"Oh man. Oh jeez," Jessica said. She knew one day she would've had to tell Peter and Aunt May about their secret, but wasn't expecting it to be today. Or anytime in a few years.

"Jess, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? I'm so scared!"

Jessica hugged her brother, who hugged back in return. "I know. It's gonna be ok. I promise we're gonna get through this, little bro."

"Are we?"

Jessica's face hardened, her eyebrows crunched together like steel. Determination. "Yes." Jessica broke the hug and looked down at the police blockade. "I want you to go down there and warn the cops about whatever it is that's gonna happen."

"What about you?" Ben asked.

"Don't worry about me. Just go!"

Ben nodded and was about to jump from the ledge down onto the street. "Wait!" Jessica rang out.

Ben turned toward her. "Did you catch that lady's name?"

"Her name was...Adriana...Sora-no-Soria, I think," Ben answered.

"Alright," Jessica said. She took off, jumping to the next building, swinging away.

* * *

Gwen Stacy sat outside on the ledge of the fire escape of her apartment complex, her headphones in her ears. She also had her drum sticks and a small percussion set on her lap. One might be asking why the young blonde wasn't all too concerned about her superhero friends taking so long to come back; in Gwen's mind, there's the battle, then the clean-up, then the annoying PR.

_Not the first time Peter's come back later to something,_ she thought to herself as she played on her drums. She wasn't the type to play the 'constantly worried superhero girlfriend' trope straight; to her, whatever happens, happens, and besides, he always finds a way. Life, uh, finds a way, as Ian Malcolm once said.

But there was still some nagging thought behind her head that was suggesting that something might not be right this time. Before she could expand on that thought, however, she saw a brown haired girl in a red spider outfit swing toward her and land on her feet.

"Hey bug-girl," Gwen greeted, taking out her earbuds.

"Gwen," Jessica began. "There's something going on. Something super serious, probably."

Gwen narrowed her eyes at Jessica. "Peter's not doing something stupid, is he?"

"Not yet. Even if he was, it's out of his control," Jessica replied.

"Huh?" Gwen said, raising an eyebrow.

"Look, I was looking for my brothers a few minutes back and then Ben shows up and tells me there's some lady called Adriana Soria who's trying to turn all of New York City, and I mean all, into spiders," Jessica answered.

A brief pause was all Gwen needed. "Again, huh?"

"It sounds weird, I know," Jessica admitted.

"Not any weirder than scientists who turn into li-wait a minute!" Gwen exclaimed. "This is the same f&*kin' plot the Lizard tried to do!"

"Originality? What's that?" Jessica snarked. "Anyway, yeah, this lady's a total head case and I was wondering if the name sounded familiar."

"Never heard of her," Gwen said, shrugging. "But I think I might know someone who can look her up." The blonde took out her phone and dialed a number. After a second or two, she started talking. "Ned? It's Gwen. Something weird's about to go down. I'm gonna need you to look up a woman named Adriana Soria. Wait, what? Hold on, when did we-ok, I fell asleep during that class, it wasn't my fault! Can you just look her up? Yes, you're the chair man again! I'm counting on you, Neddy! Bye."

Gwen hung up the phone. "Alright, that's out of the way. Anything else, bug-girl?"

"Stop calling me bug-girl for one thing," Jessica began. "And also: you might wanna stay inside for this one."

"No way!" Gwen argued, her fists clenched and a look of determination on her face. "I gotta go down there and warn as many people as possible."

"But Ben's already doing that with the cops!"

"It's not enough. I can do more, Jess; you just gotta trust me," Gwen exclaimed.

A brief pause emerged and Jessica sighed. "I can't convince you otherwise, can I?"

"Nope," Gwen said cheerfully.

"Fine. But you better be alright. I gotta go warn Aunt May and find out exactly what's going on." With that, Jessica swung away.

Gwen ran to the door of the fire escape. Opening it and running down the stairwell, Gwen was greeted to a green, misty fog that was slowly emerging from the walls. She began to cough and cover her face while running down the stairs.

_W-what is this?_ she thought to herself. _So woozy._

She slipped on one of the stairsteps and began tumbling down. Afterwards, she was still coughing profusely, to the point that she was heaving. Gwen attempted to get up from the ground, but she fell down again. This time, she was unconscious...

* * *

**You ready for what's coming next. What do you think is happening to poor Gwen?**

**Read and Review.**


	9. The Spider-Clan Rises

In the sewers of New York City, the Spider-Queen stood among Peter, Kaine, the Jackal, and her many cloned followers. She circled her group, holding a switch in her right hand.

"In a few moments, our new society shall rise!" the Spider-Queen announced. "No more class! No more government! There will be only two rulers: myself and my King!" She grabbed the back of Peter's head and forcibly made out with him.

"The Spider-Queen is the way...she guides us," Peter said, monotone.

"She protects us. She is our one true god," Kaine drolled.

"And my children!" the Jackal rang out. "You shall all be greater than the one they call Spider-Man! You are superior!"

Spider-Queen let go of Peter and walked toward the Jackal. She punched straight through his stomach and ripped out his kidneys, ending the manic man's life.

"You are no longer useful," the Spider-Queen whispered. "But thank you for your army."

The Spider-Queen led army down the sewer tunnels, an evil smirk on her face. She thought about how grand her conquest would soon be and how she would get her vengeance toward those who denied her power and cast her aside.

When she and her army reached the end of the tunnel, she pointed toward the way and they all dispersed quickly. One member, who was large, bulky and wearing a blue and red outfit seemed perhaps the most enthusiastic for what was to come.

"For decades, I've waited for this moment," the Spider-Queen said. "Finally, that time is upon me."

* * *

**Parker Residence**

Jessica leapt down from her web onto the rooftop. She climbed through the window sill of Peter's room and quickly exited, making her way toward Aunt May's room.

She knocked on the door three times before Aunt May answered. "Jessica?" she questioned.

"Hey, Aunt May," the spider-girl said, out of breath. "Listen-listen, listen, listen-"

"Where are your brothers?"

"I'm getting to that. Look, I just need you to stay in the house. There's a whole lottastuffgoingdownandIdon'twantyougetting-"

"Jessica!" Aunt May rang out, a stern look on her face. "Slow. Down."

Jessica shook her head and took a deep breath. "There's a really big bad guy out there and she's setting off gas throughout all the boroughs of New York. Including here. You have to stay inside!"

"And your brothers?"

"I don't know what's happening."

Aunt May grabbed Jessica by the shoulders, her stern look still adorning her face. "You go out and show this bad girl what you're made of. Parker women are always strong."

Jessica looked at Aunt May in awe and nodded. She ran from Aunt May's room and jumped down the short flight of stairs into the kitchen. Jessica looked at the wall and saw a telephone mounted.

"Huh? Whaddya know? Landlines still exist," she commented. Before she picked up the phone, she paused and thought back on a few things; a series of numbers flashed before her eyes. She quickly punched in those numbers and waited a few seconds before someone answered.

"Peter?" the voice of Ned Leeds asked.

"Close. My name's Jessica Parker. I'm Peter's sister. Anyways, did you look up that chick Gwen told you about?"

"Thought you'd never ask. Man, this chick is, like, mad serious."

"How?"

"Peep this: telekinetic powers, super strength like Captain America, I think it says she served with him in WWII once. Oh, and also, she can turn into a giant spider."

"That's reassuring!" Jessica exclaimed sarcastically. "Thanks Ned. Remember, just stay in your house."

"Yeah, there's like this green fog that's outside..."

Jessica gasped and hung up the phone, leaving the Parker Residence in a hurry.

* * *

**Manhattan**

The green fog was already slowly starting to cover up the industrial district of Manhattan, and the crowds of people were all panicked. Running around frantically, screaming, fainting and coughing, it was reminiscent of a disaster film.

With Ben, he was holding open the door of a national bank, herding people to get inside.

"C'mon, in here, in here. There we go, that's good," he said, helping up a young girl who had fallen down.

"What's going on?" the little girl asked Ben.

"Some really bad guys showed up and I gotta stop 'em," Ben replied. He noticed that the little girl was holding back a few tears. "Hey, hey now. Don't cry. It's gonna be alright. Just get inside and find your parents, ok?"

The little girl nodded and quickly ran inside. Ben webbed the door shut behind him and quickly ran over to a hotel. The youngest of the Parkers noticed that for some odd reason, the green fog wasn't affecting him like it was everyone else. _Must be my enhanced body,_ he thought.

Ben broke down the door to the hotel with one punch. "HEY!" He shouted, getting some panicked people's attention. "Get inside! NOW! Before it's too late!"

Those who were paying attention wasted no time in obeying the Hooded Spider's orders. They all scurried over to the opened building like rats attracted to peanut butter in a maze.

"Good job. Is it everybody alright?" Ben asked the frightened group, who did not answer. "Alright, just stay-"

The Hooded Spider was interrupted when he felt something wrap around his waist and throw him into a street light, knocking the light over. He groaned as he looked up at whatever had caught him.

Ben was greeted to the sight of the Spider-Queen, in her full get up, alongside Peter and Kaine. "Oh no," he groaned.

" 'Oh no' is right, little boy," the Spider-Queen said, malice heard in every word. "My King and General. Kill him."

* * *

Jessica swung from building to building, high rise to rise in her rush to get to the scene. Her short pep talk with Aunt May had also helped her a little bit. Ever since a week ago when she met the older woman, they had a formed a special kind of bond (which _totally_ wasn't based on being the only women in the Parker household). She found May to be pretty funny, inventive and kindhearted; she realized why Peter was so close to her. Hell, the lady was even able to reach out to Kaine, who'd never admit that he had a soft spot for her.

*SPIDER SENSE*

While swinging from a web, Jessica looked down and saw that a green, mist-like fog was starting to envelop the entirety of Manhattan. "Oh no," Jessica said. "NO!"

Jessica soared down onto the street, eager to help out anyone she could. What she did notice freaked the hell out of her; random people with spider-like limbs tearing out of their bodies, blood gushing and agonized screams heard.

She looked around the crazed scene and ended up getting punched in the face by a woman in a black one piece suit with a golden spider on it, and a hood covering her face.

Jessica went into a fighting pose, crouched down, hands open. "So you're her?" she said. "Adriana."

"I am the Spider-Queen now," she said. Jessica leapt at her, but the Spider-Queen was dodging her every strike and every kick.

She caught one of Jessica's fists and squeezed, making the Red Widow winced. "I'm unimpressed," she mocked, headbutting the Red Widow and using her telekinesis to freeze her in place. "But you would make a fine bride to him."

"F&*k you!" Jessica insulted, wrestling against her telekinetic control. She shot out web from her fingertips and the web covered the Spider-Queen's face. The Queen lifted her control of Jessica to get the web off her face. Taking advantage of this momentary distraction, Jessica began punching at the Spider-Queen, but her punches weren't doing anything other than making the older woman stumble.

When she got the webbing off her face, the Spider-Queen tried to roundhouse kick the Red Widow, but she wasn't having any of that. The younger girl caught the kick and slammed the Spider-Queen onto the ground and spun her around, letting her fly into a building. The Red Widow followed her, but she was met with a table going one hundred miles an hour smacking her in the face.

Jessica, recovering, came face to face with the sight of a man in a red and blue Spider-Man outfit. "Peter?" she asked.

The man shook his head. "I...am...Spider...cide. Fear...me."

* * *

Ben was tangling with his two hypnotized brothers, swinging all about Central Park to get out of the path of the mayhem. "You're not thinking straight, you guys!" Ben said as he dodged a web ball from Kaine.

"Our Spider-Queen tells us what to think," Peter drolled.

"We are her children," Kaine added.

The three landed near a pond and Peter and Kaine began attacking Ben simultaneously. Because their Spider-Sense didn't work around each other, Ben was trying as hard as he could to try and block and dodge both his brothers attack.

"C'mon, Petey!" Ben begged, before the hypnotized Spider-Man hit him in the face. Ben shot out a web wall to hold the two off, but they both clawed their way through it. Ben launched at both of them, but Kaine caught him with a kick to the face.

Ben fell onto the ground, with Peter holding his foot on Ben's chest and Kaine punching him all around his body. Ben coughed as he was attack, blood spraying onto Kaine's mask. The oldest of them began grinning behind his mask.

"Soon you'll be out of the way," Kaine said.

"Our Queen will be most delighted," Peter said.

Ben, wincing through the pain, managed to say "No...please...don't..."

"We must," Peter and Kaine said in unison. Ben finally decided that this was enough and grabbed Peter's ankle, throwing his brother into a tree. _"No more Mr. Nice_ Guy," Ben thought.

He then turned his attention toward Kaine and began fighting him. "C'mon, Kaine, you douchebag, it's me! Your brother!"

"I have no brother. I only serve the Spider-Queen," Kaine said as he fought with Ben, throwing haymakers, kicks and elbows toward his direction. Ben was caught off guard by a kick to the side and an elbow to his nose. He ended up flying into a tree, but he didn't knock it over.

"Y'know," Ben began, recovering. "I said I always wanted to fight you. I didn't think it'd be so soon."

Ben leapt toward Kaine at lightning speed and made him fall. Ben started laying punch after punch on his older brother's body and face. "C'mon Kaine!" Ben shouted, punching Kaine's face. "SNAP. OUT. OF. IT!"

Peter web slung toward Kaine and Ben and carried Ben away, dropping him into a pond. Peter moved over to Ben and held his head under water. Ben flailed around, trying to get a hold of his surroundings, but to no avail.

_"This is it, isn't it?"_ he thought to himself. _"All this time, I thought I was being a hero. Tch, I'm a loser. Well, I had a good run."_

Just as Ben was getting ready to accept his fate, he felt a resurgence flow through himself and he thrust his head back, headbutting Peter and sending him back a few feet. The Hooded Spider gasped for breath and looked back at his fallen brother.

"C'mon, Petey," Ben pleaded, approaching him slowly. He held out his hand. "You don't wanna do this. I know you don't. I just-I just wanna be like you, Petey."

As soon as those words were said, the brainwashed Spider-Man's eyes rose wide under his mask. He then heard a collection of voices in his psyche.

_You, Jessica, and Kaine are my famliy_

_I just wanna be like you, Petey._

"I thought I was a hero, but I'm not," Ben continued. "You can show me."

_"I was out doing my part and helping citizens, like a real hero should!" _

**With great power, comes great responsibility.**

Peter shook his head and began breathing heavily. "B-ben?" he said, his voice quivering. He took his brother's hand and got up.

"Is it..y'know, really you?" the Hooded Spider asked.

Peter hugged his brother fiercely. "It's me. I-I'm Spider-Man! I'm back!" Peter declared.

"Thank you," Ben whispered.

"Oh God, what did I do?"

"It's not your fault, Petey. Trust me."

Peter and Ben broke the hug when they heard Kaine approach them, murderous intent in his every move. "Traitor!" Kaine snarled.

"No, no!" Peter said. "Kaine! It's me. It's Peter. You're being brainwashed, dude."

"Yeah. You're not some slave to a crazy lady," Ben added. "You're our brother. We love you."

"I have no brothers!" Kaine shouted, approaching the two. "I only serve the Spider-Queen. You're all traitors! Weak! Stupid!"

Peter and Ben leapt out of the way as Kaine started attacking them once more. Peter and Ben shot their webs at adjacent trees to trap Kaine with in it. They both swung down from the trees and cocooned him within webbing. Kaine roared and shouted as he tried to free himself.

"What do we do now, bro?" Ben said, looking at Kaine.

"I think I got this."

Peter slowly approached the cocooned Kaine and held his hands out in surrender. "Kaine? This is Peter. It's your brother. You're better than this. You might be a jerk, I might not have known you, Ben and Jessica that long, but you're my family. And I love you." Kaine snarled at Peter once again. "Th-there is good in you, bro. I know it. Remember when you saved that kid?"

_Kaine took off his mask in front of him and held out his hands. "C'mon, I'm just a normal guy. Alright, don't worry."_

_He took a closer look at the kid: he had brown skin, short black hair, and a black shirt with a red spider on it. He smiled on the inside._

_"You like spiders?" Kaine asked. "Check mine out," he continued, pointing to the spider-symbol on his chest._

_"What's your name, kid?"_

_"M-miles," the kid stammered. Kaine feel a surge of anger from within, but held it back for the sake of the kid._

Kaine shook his head and quickly looked at both Peter and Ben. "Shrimp? Wuss?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, he's definitely back," Peter and Ben said in unison.

"Why am I stuck in webbin'?" Kaine wondered before breaking out of it casually.

"We both went a little crazy," Peter said as he and Ben approached their (technically) older brother.

"An understatement," Ben mumbled to himself. "I'm just so glad you're back, bro."

"Yeah, yeah," Kaine said, dismissive. "Don't ya two start gettin' sappy on me, now."

"Not for the world, douchebag," Ben remarked, smiling behind his mask. He lost that smile before realizing something else.

"Dudes. Jess! We gotta go back!" Peter exclaimed.

"You read my mind, brutha!" Ben replied. Kaine nodded and the brothers Parker swung off to help their sister.

* * *

Jessica was not faring all that well against the being called Spider-Cide. She did manage to get a whole lot of hits on the hulking clone of all three of them, but it was soon a matter of time before the tide of the battle turned.

After a grievous mishap involving an attempted knee to the balls, Spider-Cide grabbed Jessica by the leg and threw her down with a force so great, it nearly knocked the wind out of her. A swift punch to the side distracted her, and right now, Spider-Cide was grabbing Jessica by the hair and ramming her face repeatedly into the ground.

"Weak...inferior spider," Spider-Cide rumbled out. He rammed Jessica into the ground once more before letting her go.

The young girl moaned in pain as she turned around; she grabbed his incoming fist with her right hand, but he kneed her in the stomach and pushed her ten feet away.

Spider-Cide jumped toward her and was ready to attack, only for Jessica to jump over him and tag him with one of her webs. She swung him around and made him crash into a group of cars. She landed on top of him and started pummeling him with her fists.

"NOBODY!" Jessica shouted, punching him in the face. "CALLS! ME! WEAK!" Every word she shouted was emphasized by a punch to his face, each one stronger than the last. "SON OF A BITCH!"

Spider-Cide was dazed and confused from the attack. After another punch to his face, he had enough and unleashed one of his stingers from his wrist; Jessica caught sight of this and moved away, leaving her open for Spider-Cide to kick her in the chest, sending her flying.

The brothers Parker showed up to the scene, standing over their sister. "You ok, ho?" Kaine asked.

"Do I LOOK okay?!" Jessica exclaimed.

"Christ, ya on ya f&*kin' period or somethin'?" Kaine replied.

"Kaine!" Peter and Ben shouted. The two helped their downed sister up.

"Sissy!" Ben said.

"Hey Jess," Peter greeted.

"This has really been a s&*$ night," Jessica commented.

"Tell me about it," the brothers said simultaneously.

Spider-Cide got up from the car pile-up and began walking over to the spider siblings. Jessica recovered and got back into a fighting position alongside her brothers.

"Can't...beat...me...I'm...strongest...spider," he rumbled out. He clenched his fist ready to attack-

*POW*

The three were momentarily surprised by seeing Spider-Cide batted away and sent flying by someone holding a street lamp in their hands. The person, a young woman, was barefoot, wearing a white jacket, with a white sports bra underneath, and white yoga pants. The woman's hood was covering her face.

The stranger dropped the street lamp and front flipped toward the trio, who were all still on edge.

"Who are you?!" Jessica exclaimed, tense.

The stranger took her hood off to reveal the face of...

"GWEN?!" Peter said, in complete shock.

The aforementioned blonde smirked at her boyfriend. "Hey there, man o' mine."

The Spider-Queen, who was floating in the sky, looked down at the group, a sneer adorning her face. She levitated down twenty feet away from them.

"You were supposed to be my king!" the Spider-Queen shouted in rage.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I've got better things to do," Peter quipped.

"Traitor." The Spider-Queen looked at Gwen. "So, you came to die along side them?"

"Nope. We're here to stop you!" Gwen retorted.

The Spider-Queen's face contorted in fury. "I'll have your remains mounted all across this pathetic city! And your families, too!"

"We're waiting," Jessica snapped back. The Spider-Queen levitated back up and held out her hand. All of those normal civilians who were in the path of the green fog now stood at complete attention. Rigid. Unmoving. Still.

"My children!" the Queen yelled, pointing at the four. "Kill them! For your queen!"

The Parker family, plus Gwen, looked all around themselves and saw various civilians starting to approach them.

"This is gonna be one hell of a party," Kaine snarked.

"You wanted to be like me, Ben; you think you're ready for the big leagues?" Peter commented.

"Let's do this," Ben said.

"Really? That's your big one-liner?" Jessica said.

"It's kinda hard to come up with one-liners at a time like this!"

Gwen looked all around her and could only utter out one line:

"F^&*ing hell."

* * *

**Next is the final chapter of Vol. 1.**

**Read and Review.**


	10. The Spider-Clan is Born

**Previously on Enter the Spider-Clan:**

_"Really? That's your big one-liner?" Jessica said._

_"It's kinda hard to come up with one-liners at a time like this!"_

_Gwen looked all around her and could only utter out one line:_

_"F^&*ing hell."_

* * *

Gwen looked up at the levitating form of the Spider-Queen, whose hands were covering both of her temples. The blonde girl snarled in anger and crouched down, jumping up very high to get close.

"GWEN!" Spider-Man shouted as he saw the two women wrestling with each other. Just as he was about to follow them, he felt the Scarlet Spider's hand on his shoulder.

"I'm goin' with ya!" he declared.

"Kaine, not now!"

"She took advantage o' me, Pete. I gotta show her what for!" Kaine said.

Peter sighed and conceded. "Fine. Just remember-"

"-no killin'. I make no promises," the Scarlet Spider finished. The two Parker brothers web slung away to follow Gwen.

"Oh, wow! Leave us to deal with all this!" the Hooded Spider complained, kicking away a random hypnotized civilian away.

"D&*ks!" the Red Widow agreed as she pushed away an entire mob of people. "Careful Ben, these people aren't thinking straight!"

"I know, sissy!"

"And stop calling me that!"

* * *

Gwen and the Spider-Queen wrestled in the air, punching, kicking at, and clawing at each other. The Spider-Queen was trying her hardest, but it seemed like no matter what she did, Gwen clung to her as if her body was super glue or anything else comparable. Her complaints were interrupted as Gwen headbutted her in the face, making her nose bleed.

"F&*^in' bitch!" Gwen roared as she clawed at the Spider-Queen.

"You will not interfere!" the Queen shouted back. Gwen yanked on the older woman's hair, causing her to yelp and lose her grip. The blonde started kneeing the Queen in her side and stomach. The two women were now beginning to tumble down to the ground, and Gwen currently had the upper hand. Before they hit the concrete, however, the Spider-Queen grabbed Gwen's right arm and threw her into a street lamp.

The blonde girl groaned as the Spider-Queen hit the ground, leaving a dent in the concrete. Holding her hand to the back of her head, Gwen looked at the downed woman from thirty feet away.

"God, this lady's got a grip," she mumbled. When Gwen saw the Spider-Queen stand up, she took this as her cue to start running toward her with lightning speed. Seeing this, the Spider-Queen quickly slid between Gwen's legs, to which the blonde turned around.

Gwen punched at the Spider-Queen, who caught her fist and twisted it, making the younger girl cry out in pain. The Queen backhanded her, making blood spew from Gwen's mouth. "S^&t!" the blonde exclaimed as she fell down.

"SORIA!" yelled out the voice of the Scarlet Spider, who let go of his web and landed on the ground, glaring at the aforementioned woman. The Spider-Queen closed her eyes and put her hands to her temples, summoning a crowd of brainwashed civilians to swarm the Scarlet Spider.

"No! Son of a bitch!" Kaine said as the people began swarming him. "You can't escape me! I'll chase you to the ends of the earth!"

The Spider-Queen grinned at the sight of Kaine's situation. "Pathetic. And to think you would be my first general."

"Then you're gonna love me!" Gwen shouted as she tackled the woman onto the floor. Gwen started punching the downed woman in the face repeatedly.

Kaine, meanwhile, was dealing with numerous hands and feet punching him and kicking him as he fell down. A *thwip* sound erupted from the air and Kaine was yanked from the ground and moved away from the crowd. Kaine recovered and saw Peter land next to him.

"There you are, bro," Peter said.

"SORIA!" Kaine shouted, leaping away from his brother and back to Gwen.

" 'Gee, thanks for savin' my life, Pete.' 'Hey, no problem,'," Peter mocked, doing his best Kaine impression. "A&*hole."

Peter, seeing the crowd of brainwashed people shooting toward him, used his web shooters to make a barrier, blocking them off. "Sorry, but no autographs today," Spider-Man joked.

* * *

The Hooded Spider and the Red Widow were dealing with a giant mob of enhanced, brainwashed civilians who had pretty much ambushed them and were now demonstrating signs of spider powers. Currently, the Red Widow was tying up a few of the civilians by swinging around them and engulfing them in her organic webbing.

"Look what Santa brought. Christmas came early," Jessica joked, typing a bow around the web. She was cut off from her jokey nature when a fist punched her in the face, sending her flying back a few feet. When Jessica stood back up, she caught sight of Spider-Cide.

"Oh, not you again!" Jessica complained.

"Not...finished...must...kill," Spider-Cide rumbled.

The Hooded Spider was dealing with five to six people fighting him all simultaneously. If this were any other situation, Ben probably would have managed just fine, but his spider-sense wasn't working. He was taking blow after blow from what should have been strikes that are easily predictable. The small group all jumped on Ben, who then overpowered all of them and sent them flying in other random directions.

"Jesus Christ," Ben huffed out, breathing heavily. "If I survive this, this'll be one hell of a story."

The Hooded Spider saw his sister going up against Spider-Cide; she was perched on his neck and was punching him in his cheek. Ben ran over to the fight scene, pushing and kicking past a few brainwashed civilians. While the fight scene was going on, Ben shot out two webs and tripped Spider-Cide, making both he and Jessica fall on the ground. Ben moved over to them, picking up a sewer lid.

Jessica began punching Spider-Cide all over his body in a far more harried and furious manner, shouting between every hit. Blood was beginning to spray all over the Red Widow, who paid it no mind; at this point, the spider-girl was full of rage.

"SO. SICK. OF. THIIIIIS!" she yelled. Spider-Cide, in clear pain, kicked her off of him and stood up. Before he could make a move, he was knocked unconscious by a sewer lid hitting him in the head.

Jessica snapped her head toward her brother, who waved at her cheerfully. "Hey sis!" he rang out.

"Wow. My hero," she snarked, rolling her eyes behind her mask.

"Who the heck was that guy?" Ben asked as he ran up to her.

"I dunno. Some guy called Spider-Cide or something."

"Wait! I remember him now!" Ben exclaimed. "I think the Jackal created him...probably...I dunno, I clocked out a while ago."

"Of course you did," Jessica commented.

"This is crazy, right?"

"That's the understatement of the year," Jessica replied. "Speaking of which, where is-"

"Who knows and who cares," Ben brushed off. "We got more important stuff worry about, like, I dunno, THE HORDE COMING TOWARD US!"

Jessica and her brother look behind them and see a giant horde of brainwashed people approaching them at a moderate speed.

"Great. Just great," the Red Widow groaned.

"There's too many of them," Ben said.

"Well, we had a good run," Jessica announced as the horde closed in on them. The two closed their eyes and embraced each other, seemingly coming to terms with their inevitable fates. That is, until the two spider-lings heard the tune of Another One Bites the Dust by Queen. Accompanying that was the sound of two laser beams and a lot of screaming.

Ben and Jessica opened their eyes and saw a gold and red tinted robot man with shiny blue eyes. The Hooded Spider smiled in awe of the sight.

"Some party, am I right kids?" the robot man joked.

"Oh my God, it's Iron Man!" Ben said, his voice high pitched.

"...I'm sorry, who are you again?" Jessica asked, completely confused.

"C'mon, princess, you mean you've never heard of Tony Stark?" Iron Man commented, his voice in mock offense.

"Hmm...nope, never heard of you."

"Sis, this is-don't you remember all those videos we watched on YouTube?" Ben said.

"They're making videos of me now? Not that I'm creeped out by it, I mean, more press for me is all good."

Jessica smirked at the Iron Man's tone. "I dunno, I clocked out a while ago," she echoed.

Tony rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Kids these days."

"Uh...Mr. Stark, can you help us out here? It's been a really rough night, and where are the other Avengers?" Ben asked, his mouth going a mile a minute.

"There in the other boroughs taking care of this little infestation. Why don't you let the grown ups handle this and go play your Xbox or something?" Tony said derisively.

"Y'know, I've known you for about a minute now and I already don't like you," Jessica commented.

"New record," Tony said, proud. "Fine, you can help out. Guess it's time for a little pest control."

Jessica nearly facepalmed at the joke. "Bad form, Tin Man."

* * *

Peter, Kaine, and Gwen were all fighting the Spider-Queen at the same time. Kaine had his stingers out and was trying to stab at her, but every time he attempted, she would always dodge or smack him away.

"Get back here!" Kaine yelled.

"Do you think you can beat me, little girl?" the Spider-Queen said to Gwen, ignoring Kaine's outburst.

Gwen gritted her teeth at the woman. "Bring it," the blonde challenged.

The Spider-Queen used her telekinesis to push Gwen back, and dodged a roundhouse kick from Peter. She used her telekinesis to pull Peter toward her and smirked at Gwen; she then pulled off Peter's mask and forcibly made out with him. The Spider-Man tried to push her away, but to no avail.

"Why don't you come with me?" the Spider-Queen said, her voice low and husky. "I could give you everything you ever wanted: power, a new life, a far better lady."

Peter pushed the crazed woman off him and kicked her in the face. "No thanks, you wackjob! Crazy isn't my type!"

Gwen's face morphed from and angry snarl to a blank, emotionless stare. She ran up to the Spider-Queen and tackled the woman through the window of a toy store, breaking the glass in the process. Peter and Kaine followed the two women to the scene. Gwen pinned the woman down and started punching her at a blindingly fast rate. To the average viewer, it looked like Gwen was hitting her a thousand times at once.

"Gwen! Gwen!" Peter yelled, pulling Gwen back. "Gwen stop! It's over!"

The blonde slowly began to calm down and looked at her boyfriend. "Holy s^&t," she commented. "I-I-what am I doing?"

"Goin' bats&*t insane," Kaine said offhandedly. "I gotta say, that was metal as f&*k. Ya bagged a nice one, Petey."

"Not sure whether to take that as a complime-" Gwen's comment was interrupted by a painful ringing in her ears. It was so painful that she sunk to her knees and clutched her head. Peter and Kaine also felt the same ringing in their ears and similarly sunk to the ground.

"I tried to be nice," the Spider-Queen began, sauntering toward the downed Spider-Man. "I offered you my body, a chance at power, to extract the larmocks out of our armies bodies. I can grant you eternal life! I don't want to do this. But you have forced my hand!"

"Ally myself with you? No thanks," Peter grunted out. "I...I actually like...my life. Something you can never understand."

"I see." The Spider-Queen turned to Gwen and Kaine and tilted her head; the two spider-lings began clutching their throats, choking. "If you will not join me in life, then they can join you in death."

Peter looked at his girlfriend and his brother in horror. He already lost his parents, his uncle, he felt responsible for Captain Stacy's death, and now he was about to lose Gwen and Kaine.

No.

Peter turned toward the Spider-Queen, a harsh glare on his face. He gritted his teeth at her sadistic smile and began trembling; with his eyes closed, he willed himself to stand up. As he stood, his legs were wobbly and so were his arms; he continued glaring at her until he clenched both of his fists and raised his arms in the air, breaking her control.

The Spider-Queen looked at this with shock. "How?! I don't understand?! Why?! Why do you persist?!" she raged.

Peter said nothing as he ran toward her and punched her in the face. She recovered and punched him back. Peter then sweep kicked her and covered his hands in webbing. He then pinned her to the ground and began wailing on her, screaming in rage the entire time.

"You almost killed me a thousand times!" he began, still wailing on her. "You crazy, sick-ass weirdo! C'mon! Get up! Get up! GET UP!"

The Spider-Queen didn't respond as Peter continued punching the ever-loving hell out of her; at one-point, he even began hitting After a few minutes, Peter finally stopped his assault. He looked down at the broken, bleeding woman on the ground. "No more," he said.

Peter turned toward his girlfriend and brother, who were nursing their heads through the pain of the psychic attack and breathing heavily. "Kaine! You ok?!" Peter said, running over to the two.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Kaine said. "Looks like ya got some badass-ery in ya after all, shrimp."

Gwen just tackle hugged Peter tightly. "I'm just glad you're ok, bug-boy!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Me too. I mean, how did you do all that crazy stu-" Peter was cut off by Gwen taking off his mask and kissing him ferociously.

Kaine rolled his eyes at the moment. "Alright, no f^&*in' in front o' me, you two."

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" screamed out the Spider-Queen, bloodied and battered. The crazed woman stood up and rushed at Peter and Gwen; Kaine quickly caught this and rushed toward her, stabbing her through the heart with one of his stingers. The woman froze and looked down at herself; she looked back up at Kaine and he saw the life leave her eyes. Kaine pulled his stingers back and the woman slumped to the floor. It was over.

"Bitch," Kaine said, looking down at her.

"It's over, Peter," Gwen said, cupping Peter's face.

"I could really use a cold beer after this," Kaine commented, rubbing the back of his head.

* * *

The Hooded Spider, the Red Widow, and Iron Man were all busy holding off the crowds of brainwashed people swarming them.

"This is gonna be one hell of a story to Fury," Tony snarked, shooting more of his repulsor rays at the crowds.

"HEY! Careful, Tin Man, these are still innocent people!" Jessica rang out.

"I think he knows that, Jess!" Ben said. "Like you everything, huh Mr. Stark?"

"Is he always like this?" Tony asked, dodging another incoming person.

"Only on Mondays," Jessica retorted. After that however, something had happened; the hordes of people swarming them began collapsing into unconsciousness in droves, bringing an end to their struggle.

"The hell's going on?" Tony asked, his hands still raised in defense.

Ben and Jessica looked up at the sky and smiled. "I think I got an idea," Ben said. A few minutes passed, and the three saw Peter, Gwen (on Peter's back) and Kaine descend from the sky, letting go of their webs. Gwen got off Peter's back and Peter looked at his other brother and sister.

"Hey guys. Some night, huh?" Peter joked.

"Petey!" Ben and Jessica exclaimed, hugging their brother.

Kaine made a gagging noise, to which Gwen elbowed him in the side. "What?" he said.

Tony Stark cleared his throat, interrupting their moment. "You kiddies done?"

"Mr. Stark!" Peter exclaimed. "I-I didn't know you were here."

"Oh my God, Petey! You know Tony Stark," Ben said, his voice raised a few octaves.

"Of course I do, Ben! It was a while back."

"That internship is still on the table, kid," Tony commented.

"Back on track," Jessica interrupted. "Where is she?"

Kaine unleashed one of his stingers, which was coated in blood. "Gone."

"I can tell you're the dark, broody one," Tony said. "Dark, troubled past? Some girl reject you?"

"Ya don't wanna know, Tin Man," Kaine replied.

"It's Iron Man," Tony said.

"Yeah, tin man," Kaine mocked. "So what now?"

"I can call up SHIELD, see what they can do about everyone hit by the gas," Tony said. "It won't be instant, and I can't guarantee we can fix everybody."

"At least it's something," Gwen rang up. "God, I can't believe I did all that stuff."

Tony took a glance at Gwen, smirking at Peter. "Didn't know you were into blondes kid. Just remember to use protection."

"MR. STARK!" Peter exclaimed, embarrassed.

"I'm joking, Spider-Boy."

"It's Spider-Man!"

"Not that in that onesie, you're not."

"It's not a onesie!"

Gwen and Jessica rolled their eyes at the scene.

* * *

**1 month later**

"Hey, Uncle Ben."

There was a bit of rainfall happening on that day. The newly found Parker siblings were in Northwestern Harlem, standing at a grave with an inscription on the headstone:

_Benjamin Franklin Parker_

_1968-2015_

"You wouldn't believe the time I've been having," Peter said. "Don't worry, Aunt May is just fine. We've made sure of that. Come on, guys."

The three other siblings stepped forward. "Look. I found out that I have more family. This is Jessica. Kaine. And Ben. Funny isn't it."

"You're the man I was named after," Ben said.

"That whole 'responsibility' jazz, I'm gettin' kinda used to it. Guess I got ya to thank for it, old man," Kaine said.

Jessica sucked in a deep breath. "Even though I've never seen you in person, it just feels like I've known you for a lifetime. Thank you."

"We're still here, Uncle Ben. We're gonna take care of New York, but most importantly, take care of Aunt May," Peter said, laying down flowers. "We're not gonna let you down."

* * *

**End of Vol. 1**

* * *

**Post-Script**

It was in the middle of nowhere, possibly somewhere on the border of Virginia and Washington D.C. A place where one wouldn't expect to find anything remotely interesting; a few gas stations, maybe a diner, but nothing too out of the picture.

That is, until now. In the sky, a brightly shining, almost blindingly shining object came tumbling down to the dirt near the highways. A very loud boom erupted from the impact that the object made.

When the dust cleared, there were small flames that were present near the impact, which slowly dissipated after a short while. From the impact rose a person: it was a nude young woman with dark skin, dark brown hair, which was tangled and disheveled. She looked all around herself and saw that there was virtually nothing in sight.

"HELLOOOO!" the young woman yelled out. "HELLOOOOOO! SOMEBODY OUT HERE?!"

The young woman looked down at her nude form and covered herself. "Great. That's just great, Liz. This is really working out for you, now." She looked up at the sky and then back down to herself. "At least they're as far away as possible. I think."

* * *

**Liz Allan Toomes will return.**

**Read and Review.**


	11. Interlude: A Day in the Life Of Pt I

**Peter and Gwen**

It was early in the morning, and Peter Parker was waiting in the storage area of his local junkyard in Queens, New York. He was currently playing 'Flappy Bird' on his Samsung Galaxy 8.

"C'mon, c'mon," he whispered to himself. He huffed when he heard that familiar smacking sound coming from the game. "Aw, goddammit."

Peter looked at the time in the upper left hand corner of his phone. "Seriously, Gwen, where the hell are you?" he wondered. Ever since the whole fiasco last month about the Spider-Queen, he had seen less and less of his girlfriend; sure they talked on the phone, but there was a difference between hearing the voice of someone and actually seeing someone face to face, you know?

"Might as well start all over," he whispered to himself again. "Fifty six pipes is my record. I'm lucky I even made it tha-"

*BOOM*

Peter heard something fall on top of the roof of the storage area and jumped, nearly letting his phone drop on the ground. Thanks to his enhanced reflexes, he managed to catch it just in time. He got up and moved to the center of the area; it was a spacious area, with walls, a makeshift halfpipe, a lot of shelves with random junk on it, a lot of tables, and chains hanging from the ceiling.

Peter looked up at the ceiling and saw someone jump down in front of him, landing on their feet. It turned out to be Gwen Stacy.

"H-hey there, Pete," she mumbled. The two hugged each other.

"Why'd you ask me to come here?" she asked.

Peter broke the hug and looked at her with a stern glare. "Ever since last month, you've been avoiding me. I know exactly why though, so you don't have to explain anything."

Gwen sighed in slight distress. "You wouldn't believe what's been happening to me. Back when I woke up this morning, I've already: broken my alarm clock, got stuck to my shower curtain and broke that too, broke my bathroom sink faucet, ripped the door handle off-"

"The daily grind of having super powers," Peter said.

"I-I don't know how to deal with this," the blonde admitted. "One day, I'm only a normal, very intelligent girl. The next day, I'm like, Buffy the Vampire Slayer on steroids or some s&*t."

"You watch that show?" Peter asked, humor laced in that tone.

"Don't laugh. Betty introduced me to that," Gwen retorted.

"No. It's good. Just didn't expect you to watch it. I always pegged you being more 'Firefly'," Peter said.

"Anyway," Gwen stated. "Why are we here?"

Peter looked all around himself. "This is where I learned how to use my powers. Maybe this place can help you out too."

"Really? What am I gonna do? Sharpen my skater skills? Do a 720 on a mad half-pipe, bro?" Gwen asked sarcastically.

"Please never speak like that again," Peter replied, a sweat drop on the side of his face.

"The point is: I'm gonna help out. But! There are a few conditions."

"Kay."

"Number one," Peter began, holding a finger up. "Do exactly as I say!"

"Sir, yes sir," Gwen said sarcastically.

"Number two! Don't use them without my supervision!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Gwen exclaimed. "There _my_ powers and it's my body! I'll do whatever I want!"

"I just don't want you hurting yourself. OR someone else...unless if they're trying to rape you. Then go crazy, I don't mind."

"Um...alright, that just got unnecessarily dark," Gwen commented. "One minute we're talking about how this is my body, the next we're talking about rape."

"Life constantly is dark," Peter replied.

"You an emo now, bug-boy? Want me to get you some black nail polish and lipstick?" Gwen teased, a smile on her face.

"Gwendy..." Peter said in a warning tone.

"Fine," the blonde said, rolling her eyes. "Keep going."

"And rule number three: you are not part of the spider team-"

"This is where I draw the line," Gwen interrupted. "Peter, I know you don't want me getting hurt, or me hurting someone else, but you can't treat me like this! I am not a child! Stop being so overprotective."

"I can't help it," Peter exclaimed. "I just get so nervous when I think about you fighting guys like the Spider-Queen whoever she was last month."

"I did okay then, didn't I?"

"You were running mostly on instinct. Not exactly a good way to operate."

"Bug-boy," Gwen said, grabbing the sides of Peter's face. "I'm gonna be fine. You're gonna be fine. Please stop worrying so much about me."

Peter was going to argue, but one look into Gwen's eyes put his protests to rest. "God, I'm losing it, aren't I?"

"You're not losing it. Just show me the ropes, oh man o' mine."

Peter looked at her and grinned. "Catch me," he challenged, jumping up to latch onto one of the chains hanging from the ceiling. Gwen narrowed her eyes at the challenge and stuck out her right hand.

"Go web!"

Nothing happened.

"Fly!"

Still nothing.

"Up, up and away, web!"

Nope.

"Shazam!"

Peter, clutching the chain, looked down at Gwen and laughed. "C'mon, catch me!"

"Just you wait!" Gwen shouted, sticking out her hand once more. "Go go gadget spider web go!"

_Looks like I gotta make more web shooters, _Peter thought.

* * *

**Peter and Ben**

"Peter, I'm doing it."

"Ben, I-I dunno if we should..."

"But bro..."

The Parker brothers, Ben and Peter, were currently in the bathroom of their house looking into a mirror. Ben was holding a bottle of hair dye and was shirtless, while Peter was looking nervous at the situation.

"You're gonna look so weird," Peter said.

"What're you talking about?" Ben asked, shocked. "This is-I mean, you said it was a good idea, you were all-"

"I liked in in theory, Ben," Peter began. "But now that you're standing here about to do it, I think you're gonna end up looking like, I don't know, like, early-2000s Eminem or something."

However, Ben would not be dissuaded. "No, Petey. We gotta do it."

"No."

"Seriously, we gotta do it, man."

Peter groaned at his (presumably) younger brother.

"Petey, come on, do it. You said you'd help," Ben said.

"Now I don't wanna 'cause every time I look at you it's gonna be so weird."

"Well, look on the bright side: when we go out in public, people won't mix us up and confuse us with one another," Ben said.

"I don't know, Benny. It's probably a terrible idea."

Ben rolled his eyes and opened up the top to the dye bottle, with Peter covering his eyes in reaction.

"Wait a minute!" Ben exclaimed. "Um...how do you do this, again?"

"Oh for God's sake," Peter started. "I bought the stuff for you and you don't even know how to use it?!"

"It's impulse. You know I can't control it all that well," Ben whined.

"Whatever," Peter dismissed. "Just put it in sections of your hair or something, I don't know."

"Here goes nothing." Ben squeezed the dye in his hands and started putting it in random places in his hair. The younger spider-ling read somewhere that one is supposed to wear gloves, so he thankfully took that bit of advice.

"Petey, wanna try it?" Ben offered, handing the dye bottle to his brother.

"I guess." Peter took the dye bottle, squeezed some into his hands, and started putting some of it through Ben's hair. The Spider-Man cringed every time he applied some of the dye to his brother's hair.

"Oh, oh God," Peter winced. "I don't wanna do it anymore."

"It's totally unequal, I think," Ben said. "How do-how do you get it, like, equal or something?"

The remainder of the process went by like a blur; Peter cringing and Ben trying to urge him to continue on.

_5__ hours later_

"It looks okay, right?" Ben asked, standing in front of the mirror.

Peter eyed his younger brother's hair in the mirror; it was an icy blonde with a few brown locks sticking up from the root. "Uh...it looks passable."

"We shouldn't have done this," Ben said, groaning. "Wait! Why didn't we just go to a hair stylist?"

"That actually would've been a better idea," Peter replied.

"Petey, you could've told me about that. Instead of doing this whole f&*king DIY thing."

"Look on the bright side, Ben," Peter echoed, a smile on his face. "When someone asks 'will the real Slim Shady please stand up?' you can stand up."

"Ha ha ha," Ben said. "Shut up."

* * *

**The Red Widow and the Black Cat**

The Black Cat ran along the rooftops of the city jumping between those spaces which were a short enough distance while she used her spring-loaded grappling hook to bridge the larger gaps. The Black Cat loved the freedom she felt whenever she traveled this way. She had made a point to "roof surf" every few days.

Felicia Hardy, the young woman behind the mask was a far more reserved version of her leather and spandex-clad alter ego. Ok, that was a partial truth; hell, it was a lie. The eccentric young woman tried so desperately to make the whole classy cat burglar schtick work that her attempts came across as more awkward and confusing than anything else. Her own personality quirks spilling through to her alter ego didn't help matters.

Black Cat stood on the rooftop admiring the view of the city, her city. "There is nothing else quite like New York at night." She said hands on her hips. "I wouldn't trade this view for all the tea in China. Maybe for the all porcelain in China, but not for the tea. I mean, the porcelain is also good; it's smooth, shiny, squeaky clean, like all the little goodies I got in my goodie bag here." She paused in her rambling. "And now I'm talking to myself. God, Felicia, do you need help?"

"I can refer you to someone if you want," a voice rang out. Startled, the Black Cat quickly turned around and ducked under a roundhouse kick from the newest heroine in town, the Red Widow.

Ok, so her name was Jessica Parker, but did everyone need to call her Red Widow? She would've preferred another name, if she could think of one.

Black Cat backflipped away from the Red Widow and posed. "Hey, sexy," she greeted, a flirty (possibly) smile on her face. "Come here often?"

Jessica's eyes were currently trained on the Black Cat, but not on her face. "Uhhhh," she began. "One of your um...funbags is hanging out."

The Black Cat's eyes widened and she quickly zipped her suit up. Or, she tried, but couldn't get the zipper past her glorious cleavage. "F&*king hell!" she mumbled furiously. "Just gimme a sec!"

The Red Widow groaned and ran a hand through her brown hair. "Look, kitty: it's 12 in the morning," she began. "Can't you do this s&*t tomorrow or something?"

"I could, but where's the fun in that?" Black Cat teased, deciding to just leave her zipper where it is.

"It would show that you're a mentally well-adjusted person," Red Widow retorted. "Not that I think you are..."

Black Cat gasped in offense. "I resent that! I'll have you know that I am totally, one-hundo percent, sane! I mean, it-it's n-not like I once had a nervous breakdown in my freshman year of high school or anything. I swear!"

The Red Widow stared at the cat burglar, flabbergasted. "Ooook, I did not need to know that."

"Goddammit," Black Cat swore to herself. "B-but that totally didn't happen!"

"You got issues, Pussy Galore. Can we just get back to the good stuff already?" Red Widow said, crouching down, ready to strike.

Black Cat smirked. "Sure. Always down for some girl-on-girl action."

"Stop saying that!"

"Make me," Black Cat challenged.

Black Cat and Red Widow squared off. Black Cat launched a dropkick at Red Widow's head, which the other girl easily dodged. The Red Widow twirled around and elbowed Black Cat in the back of her head. Rendered off balance from the blow, Black Cat stumbled forward a step but quickly recovered. When she spun around she was instantly levelled by a clothesline from the spider-girl. Black Cat crashed onto the rooftop surface with a loud thud, groaning.

"Oh s&*t!" Red Widow said. "Oh, God! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine!" the Black Cat groaned out. "At least you didn't punch me in the boob again."

"Oh, you're still on that?!" Red Widow exclaimed.

"You violated the Chick Code!"

"I don't even know what that is!"

"How the f-nevermind!" Black Cat tripped over the Red Widow, who fell down. The white haired thief moved toward her and pinned her to the ground. The two looked into each other's eyes.

_She has such beautiful_ eyes, Jessica thought, blushing. _And those lips? Oh yeah, ten out of ten. No! Stupid, sexy Black Cat!_

"Why don't we just put all of this behind us and be friends, huh?" the Black Cat offered. Her voice was low and sensuous, like a femme fatale from those movies in the 40s; Jessica supposed she could be a femme fatale, though.

The Red Widow steeled herself and narrowed her eyes at her. "I-I-no, you're going to the slammer! This I swear!"

The Black Cat only stared at the girl pinned under her. "That's your comeback line?"

"Well, uh...I-uh..." the Red Widow's stammering was interrupted by Black Cat's giggles. "What?"

"Oh man! Y-you just had this funny look on your face," Black Cat said. "You were all 'duuuuuhhh' and embarrassed!"

The Red Widow took this opportunity to kick the thief off of her, sending her a few feet away. The spider-girl hoisted herself up and shot out a web, connecting with the Black Cat; she pulled the young woman close to her.

"Gotcha!" the Red Widow exclaimed, quickly webbing up both the Black Cat's hands. She then webbed the silverfox's feet to the ground and rushed over to retrieve her burlap sack.

The Red Widow looked inside the bag and took out a ruby red amulet. "Oh s&*t!" she said, impressed. "You got some nice tastes."

"Jewelry is a girl's best friend," Black Cat commented.

"But stealing is still wrong. Didn't your mommy ever teach you that?"

"Once. I completely turned her out, though."

"I can see," Red Widow snarked. She moved over to the thief and hoisted her over the shoulder. "I almost feel sorry that I'm about to put you in jail. Do you know what they do to little minxes like you?"

"Mmm...yum," Black Cat teased, making the spider-girl blush behind her mask. "Nice to know I'm a minx."

"There's a lot of other things I could call you. None of them appropriate."

"Sure," the thief dismissed. "You better not grab my ass back there!"

"Tempting-I mean-why would I?" Red Widow stammered.

Black Cat scratched off the webbing from around her hands and flipped away from the spider-girl. Standing at the edge of the rooftop, she blew a kiss at her and jumped off, using her grappling hook to swing away into the night.

"Man, if this chick wasn't so attractive, I'd beat her into the ground," Jessica said to herself. She looked at the escaping thief, debating on what to do.

After a few seconds, she sighed. "Got nothing better to do I guess." She shot out her webbing and went to pursue the Black Cat. The girl making her feel less than wholesome feelings, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

She was probably gonna need a cold shower after this. That's for sure.

* * *

**Just a little showing of what characters do that's not related to a big time villain. How'd you like the Black Cat?**

**Read and Review.**


	12. A Day in the Life Of Finale

**Peter and Gwen**

"WHOOOOOOHOOOOO!"

"Careful, Gwen!"

Gwen Stacy was jumping from rooftop to rooftop in the bustling borough of Manhattan, New York. Her height while jumping was something to be admired; usually, if a normal person, no matter how skilled they were at parkour, were to try this, they probably would've broken their necks or backs by now. But not for Gwen.

Plus, having a spider-sense to alert you how much hang time you need to safely make it also came in handy.

"YEEEEEAAAAAHHHH!" Gwen shouted once more, jumping and looking down at the ground below. The moderate amount of people who were walking through the alleyways resembled ants.

However, when she and Peter jumped to the next rooftop, the rooftop that followed was too far away to be jumped to by normal means. However, there was a construction crane in the path, which let Gwen know exactly what she was gonna have to do.

"Oh great," the blonde said.

Peter looked at his girlfriend, clad in the white hoodie and white yoga pants he saw earlier. "Alright Gwendy, here's your moment of truth."

"Hope I don't regret this," she groaned. She stuck her hand out toward the crane and pressed her middle and ring fingers into her palm.

*THWIP*

Gwen and Peter heard the webbing splat on to the construction crane; the blonde was now frozen in uncertainty.

"Now, just relax...try thinking about someth-"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Gwen said, taking a deep breath. "You can do this, Gwen. This is...this is totally safe. Totally one hundred percent, ten out of ten-"

"Blondie, you're rambling," Peter reminded.

"I've never done this before! Gimme a break!" Gwen complained.

"Alright, alright!" Peter said, holding his hands in surrender. "Look, just think that you're gonna land safely. Remember, moment of truth."

"Right." Gwen looked at the distance she was gonna be sailing; it was quite a ways, especially for a newcomer like her. Taking one step onto the ledge of the rooftop, the blonde gulped in fear. "Tally-ho," she mumbled.

She exhaled and propelled herself forward, closing her eyes and hanging on to her web for dear life. As soon as she began swinging through the air, she screamed a mighty scream. Gwen opened her eyes and saw that she was quickly approaching a billboard; her eyes widened as she hit the ground of the storefront. She attempted to bury her heels in the ground to stop the momentum, but to no avail.

*SMACK*

The blonde hit the billboard face on and let go of her web, falling to the ground.

Peter quickly sprung into action and web swung over to his downed friend, landing right next to her. "Oh my God! Gwendy?! You ok?!"

The blonde moaned in pain. "Owwww."

"Yeah, you're still alive. Oh that's good," Peter said, sighing in relief.

"Can we stop now?" Gwen groaned.

* * *

**Peter and Ned**

"You got all the stuff, Ned?"

Peter watched as his friend Ned Leeds closed the door of his room, holding a plastic bag filled with various objects. Ned walked over to Peter's bed, dumping the stuff onto it.

"Pocket watch, coaxial connector, super glue, plastic spoon, some scissors and Velcro," Ned said, listing off everything. "Anything missing?"

"No. I don't think I did," Peter said. "I really gotta get myself a lab or something."

"But Pete, you're basically MacGyver-ing your way through this. How cool is that?" Ned complimented.

"You watch that show?"

Ned shrugged. "My mom watches the Encore channel a lot. That s&*t's got me."

Peter shook his head and started to work on building another pair of web shooters. A few minutes in and he slapped his forehead to his head. "Aw, s&*t!" he swore.

"What?"

"I _did _forget one thing," Peter said. He got up from his bed and went into his bathroom; a few seconds later, Peter held up a tube of toothpaste. "There we go, now we can get this cracking."

"Toothpaste?" Ned said in disbelief.

"Yep. To make sure all the bad guys get caught with a hint of minty freshness," Peter joked.

"Eh. Minty freshness is a positive, I guess," Ned conceded in a joking manner.

"See? That's the spirit, Neddy."

Peter proceeded to completely disassemble the wrist watch, combined both the glue and the toothpaste into an adhesive, placed the solution into the back of the wrist watch, etc.

"So, how's you and that Betty girl?" Peter asked as he glued the coaxial connector onto the watch.

"Oh. Uh, oh, she's cool. She's cool. I never thought that the class president was also a rock star," Ned said. "Kinda funny, isn't it?"

"You make it sound like being the class president means you have to be a social outcast like me and you," Peter commented. He wrapped the belt around his wrist and marked off certain points to be cut.

"I know you don't have to be like us-we're not social outcasts by the way-but all those times seeing her on the school TV, wouldn't you think differently?" Ned wondered.

"Ned, my dude, if there's anything I've learned about being Spider-Man, it's this: never give out your secret identity, and appearances can be deceiving."

"I guess that's fair."

Peter cut the plastic spoon down to the length of his wrists, marking his wrist as he was doing so. He attached Velcro on to the cut spoon and then the wrist watch.

"Hey Pete?"

"Yeah, Ned?"

"You ever think about, I dunno, like, selling this stuff?"

"I mean, I thought about it a few times," Peter admitted. "Just not sure how that would go."

"Dude, you could probably make, like, millions of dollars off this."

"It feels kinda wrong to do something like that, you know? It's like, I'm taking advantage-not like that-it's like I'm just benefitting for myself and my family."

"What's so bad about that?" Ned wondered.

Peter sighed and continued. "And then there's the whole patenting thing, business deals and contracts, and you know how much I suck at Economics class."

"Point taken."

Peter took ten minutes to finish making his web shooters. He pointed at a wall and the web shot out flawlessly.

"Yes!" Peter cheered.

"Dude, that never gets old," Ned said, looking at the outstretched web, flicking it with his finger. "Wait, how long did you say this lasts again?"

"Uh, about one hour," Peter answered.

"I think I got a way to make it last longer," Ned said. "Just reinforce it...with peanut butter!"

Peter raised his eyebrow at his friend. "Peanut butter?"

"Trust me, Peter. That's stuff's all sticky and gets everywhere, I'm sure it'll work!"

"You got some weird ideas, Ned."

Ned smiled and patted Peter on the back. "That's why we're buds."

* * *

**Ben and the Red-Haired Girl**

In Queens, Ben Reilly Parker, the Hooded Spider (he really needed a new name), swung on to a rooftop near a restaurant called the Silver Spoon. Just an hour ago, the young superhero beginner was on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, fending off an attack from the Shocker. However, unlike his siblings, he did not once try to attack the villain; rather, he just webbed him to a wall and spoke to him about why he did what he did. Ben left the villain for the cops but not before telling him that maybe he should get his life together and do something more productive in his time.

Right now, Ben stood on the rooftop, his hand to his stomach. He sighed and looked at the restaurant on the other side of the street. _Huh, Peter told about that place,_ the Hooded Spider thought. _Good omelets._

The bleached blonde young man jumped into an alleyway and quickly changed back into his civvies, webbing his spider costume behind a dumpster. He walked on over to the Silver Spoon and entered the place. It was a mildly busy restaurant; certainly nothing like the packed madhouses they call eating places in Manhattan.

Ben ordered a bacon and sausage omelet and searched for a place to sit. As he looked, he caught sight of someone: a girl about his age with blood red hair, a black shirt, and torn short-shorts. The girl had a notepad and was writing stuff down.

Ben walked on over to the table where the girl was sitting. "Uh," the spider-ling began. "This, uh, mind if I sit next to you?"

The girl looked up at Ben, her right eyebrow raised. "It's a free country," she said. "No one's stopping you."

Ben noticed that her voice was melodious; not too high pitched, not too low voiced. He quickly sat down next to her. "Y-you come here often?" he asked. Ben internally facepalmed. _Nice icebreaker,_ he thought to himself.

The girl smirked at him. "Kind of an inappropriate question."

Ben looked at the girl, confused.

"Y'know, like coming?" the girl repeated. "Like, 'coming', 'coming'."

Ben's eyes widened at the insinuation. "Oh, that. Uh, well-I-I totally know what you were talking about. I-I was just testing you. Uh-huh, yeah."

"Sure," the girl said sarcastically.

Ben looked at her notepad, which had numerous short sentences on it. "Writing a story or something?"

"You can say that," the girl replied. "I mean, it is the story about a guy who lands a date with a girl who's totally out of his league, but she finds him cute anyways."

_Totally out of his league. Like how I feel right now,_ Ben internalized.

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't even give you my name. Uh, I'm Ben," he introduced.

The girl eyed him up and down, trying to get a feel for him. After a few seconds, she smiled and stuck out her fist. "Mary Jane. Pound it."

Ben bumped fists with the newly introduced Mary Jane. "Mary Jane, huh?"

"Yeah," she replied. "To be honest, I kinda hate my name."

"Why? It sounds b-fine," Ben said, nearly slipping up on his words and saying 'beautiful'.

"It just...it sounds overly long. I can't just go by 'Mary', 'cause that sounds like an old lady's name."

"Don't like being associated with weed, also?" Ben joked.

"Oh ha ha, haven't heard that one a million times," Mary Jane grumbled.

Ben looked regretful at his joke. "Oh, jeez, I-I'm so sorry. I-I didn-"

"I'm just f&*king with you," Mary Jane replied, a smirk on her face.

Ben looked at her and chuckled at what she said. "Hehe, o-oh I-I totally knew that."

"Uh-huh," she snarked.

"Can I see?" Ben asked. Mary Jane shrugged and handed her notepad to him.

Ben looked at the notepad and realized that it wasn't a story, it was a song; the lyrics all rhymed, although some were a bit awkward in the wording. But there was one lyric that popped up a few times as the song's chorus that really stuck out to him:

"_Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot."_

* * *

**Kaine at Luke's**

It was night time as Kaine, clad in a black hoodie and blue jeans, stood outside of a bar called Luke's. He was smoking a cigarette, the smoke illuminated in the darkness in a sort of weird lighting effect. Kaine saw the 'NO SMOKING' sign on the door and rolled his eyes, putting out the cigarette.

He entered the bar and saw that it was relatively crowded inside; people sitting at various tables, booths, it was almost bustling. He looked at the bar counter and saw that there was only one spot left, which he quickly took.

"Can I see some ID?" asked a deep voice.

Kaine looked up to see a huge man behind the balcony; tall, bald, dark skinned and built like a bull, the man talking to him was about as big as he was, with muscles so massive that Kaine wondered if he won the super power lottery.

"Gimme a sec," he finally said, digging through his pockets and fishing his ID. "Here."

The man looked at it for a moment and gave it back, before opening a bottle of beer and putting it in front of him.

"I didn't…" Kaine began, only to be interrupted.

"It's on the house. It looks like you need it," he said, raising his hand. "I'm Luke. I own the bar."

"Kaine Parker," he introduced himself.

Luke chuckled at the name. "Where's Abel?"

"Killed him, obviously," Kaine replied, sarcastically.

"Might as well enjoy your last beer," Luke advised.

Kaine looked at the bottle and shook his head. "Nah, I'm more of a margarita guy to be honest, jail muscles."

"Tch, typical," a sardonic voice rang out next to Kaine. The bearded Parker looked to his left and saw a dark haired woman with sunken in eyes, a black jacket and torn jeans, and combat boots.

Kaine looked at the whiskey she was drinking. "I guess Jack Daniel's isn't typical, is it?"

"Watch it," the dark-haired woman warned.

"Just tryin' to make a conversation," Kaine said. _And f&*king it up,_ he internalized.

"Well, make it somewhere else. I'm not interested," the dark haired woman replied.

Kaine looked at Luke, who rolled his eyes. "Just ignore miss Jessica Jones over here, she's always like this."

"Tryin' to start some s*&t. Funny. Y'know, I got a sis with the same name," Kaine said.

"Does anyone care?" the dark haired woman, Jessica, questioned harshly.

"Stop it, Jessica!" a new voice rang out. Kaine looked to see a red-haired woman with weird eyes and an athletic, but still pleasing build approaching them. _Damn! Now that's an ass I'd like to tap, _Kaine thought.

"Hold up," Luke said to Kaine. "I'mma be back with your margarita." Kaine saw Luke move to the other side of the bar counter.

Kaine turned to see the red-haired woman near him. "Ya deal with her often, Red?"

'Red' rolled her eyes. "Yeah. It's like taking care of a little kid sometimes."

"I can see that."

"You know I can hear you, right? A&*hole," Jessica commented.

"That's the point, Lydia," Kaine retorted.

"It's Jessica!" the dark haired woman growled.

"Nah. Ya more like that Lydia girl from that one movie. Are you yourself strange and unusual?" Kaine quipped. Patsy couldn't help herself and giggled at his pop-culture reference.

"Patsy, I'm five seconds away from beating him into the f&*king ground," Jessica said to the red haired woman, who stopped giggling.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Luke said, putting Kaine's margarita on the counter. "None of that. You two wanna fight, take it out on the streets. You hear me?"

Kaine and Jessica rolled their eyes at Luke. "Tch, whatever," Jessica said.

"As if she could pummel me into the f&*kin' ground, anyway," Kaine insulted. He took a sip of his margarita and loved it.

"This is...really knocks the edge off," Kaine said.

"Not the only thing that needs to be knocked off," Jessica mumbled, taking another shot of whiskey.

"Jess!" Patsy said, warning.

Kaine looked at Patsy. "Y'know, Red? I think I found out what Lydia's problem is over here: you need to get laid. Badly."

Patsy immediately lost it and starting laughing her ass off, leaning on Kaine's shoulder as she did so.

Jessica, on the other hand, scowled darkly and smashed the whiskey bottle on the counter. "LET'S DANCE, A&*WIPE!"

A few minutes later, Kaine Parker and Jessica Jones were in the parking lot, trading blows with each other. The fight itself didn't last very long as Luke and Patsy broke them up.

"F&*kin' hell," Kaine whispered to himself, his hand to his face as he was nursing his black eye. "S&*t, Lydia packs a punch."

"I'm so sorry. I was trying to g-" Patsy was interrupted by Kaine holding up his other hand.

"Don't apologize, Red," he began. "Besides, I've got beat up even worse than this before."

"Really now?" Patsy said, interested. "Tell me. All the details. I gotta know."

"Y'know," Kaine said. "You're a f&*kin' weird ass girl, Red. One minute 'oh don't fight' and now 'tell me all the ass beatings ya got'?"

"I'm weird like that," Patsy shrugged.

The two talked for a short while until Patsy looked and saw Jessica storming out of Luke's. "C'mon! We're outta here!" the dark haired woman yelled.

"Looks like it's back to work for us," Patsy said.

"Seems so." Kaine stretched his arms out. "Time for me to get some f&*kin' shut eye."

"Before you do, take this," Patsy said, handing Kaine a card. She waved him farewell and ran up to her friend.

Kaine looked at the card, which read:

_ALIAS INVESTIGATIONS_

_485 S. 46th St._

_NEW YORK, NY 10036_

"Classy," he commented, putting the card in his pocket.

* * *

**Next chapter is the start of Vol. 2. How'd you like Ben and Kaine's scenes?**

**Read and Review.**


	13. Vol 2: Jessica's Solo Adventure

**This next volume is gonna be all about Jessica strutting her stuff. Ladies first!**

* * *

**Upper East Side of Manhattan - The Hub**

**Late Afternoon**

Jessica Drew Parker, clad in an oversized burgundy sweater and torn jeans, tapped her foot impatiently as she looked at her phone. "Christ, could you take any longer?" she said to herself. She was standing outside of a fancy clothing boutique during a dreary time of day. She scratched her head and huffed in annoyance.

The door to the boutique opened and a young woman with platinum blonde (or maybe it was white) hair came stumbling out, dropping her bag of clothes as she did so. "Oh, sorry, s-sorry!" the platinum blonde said. She quickly picked the bag back up and walked over to Jessica.

"Hey. I know I took a long time and s&*t. I'm sorry," she apologized.

"Jeez, Felicia, take another hour, why don't you?" Jessica snarked.

"It's hard trying to figure out whether you should go for the size seven or a seven and a half," the young woman, Felicia, complained.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "I know. Just imagine being five foot ten and voluptuous."

"I feel your pain," Felicia said, putting her hand on Jessica's shoulder and smiling. The two girls began walking down the sidewalk.

Jessica had met Felicia Hardy one day last month during an outing with her brothers in Times Square. With all the crowds and general hustle and bustle throughout, the brunette found the place kind of unbearable. She went to hide out in one of the many stores at the Square and encountered a girl who had accidentally knocked over a group of mannequins. The girl apologized profusely for what happened, but the store manager was livid. Feeling bad for her, Jessica stood up for the young woman, who hugged her tightly as a thank you. The two had been hanging out ever since. Only one problem: Jessica knew exactly who Felicia really was. The domino mask and distinctive hair didn't help her out all that much. She would've commented on it but there was just something in Felicia's eyes that made her falter.

"So, what're you up to tomorrow?" Felicia asked.

"Not much. Might marathon the whole Star Wars series. Play some Overwatch or something. Nothing big," Jessica replied, shrugging.

"You're really into all that geeky s&*t? No joke?" Felicia said.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it, Princess," Jessica replied.

"Meh. I'm more of a rom com kinda gal," Felicia admitted. "Or cat videos."

The two girls watched as a black Lamborghini pulled up near the sidewalk. The valet stepped out and did a presenting pose to both women. Felicia smiled and Jessica's eyes widened at the sight.

"Holy f&*k, you got a Lambo?!" the brunette exclaimed.

"Yep," Felicia responded. "Fire, isn't it?"

"How can you afford these things?!"

"Dude, my family's f&*king loaded, Jess," Felicia said. "About the only good thing we're known for, anyways."

"What do you mean?"

Felicia shook her head. "Nothing, Jess."

The two got into the car and began driving off. Jessica soon found out that Felicia was a really intense driver; already, the platinum blonde haired girl was driving about 60 miles per hour. On a busy street, no less.

"I think you just ran a red light!" Jessica yelled out.

"I'm driving alright?" Felicia yelled back, a cheeky grin on her face. "I know!"

Felicia swerved out of the way of an incoming bicycle. "WHOOOAAA!" Jessica exclaimed.

"WHOOOO! Gets the blood pumping, huh?!" Felicia asked.

"Y-yeah." Jessica looked as if she were on the verge of a heart attack.

"So, if you were with any of them, which Avenger would you wanna f*&k?" Felicia asked, out of the blue.

"Wh-what?!" Jessica said.

"I know you got an answer. Me personally? Thor. Them abs," Felicia responded.

Jessica couldn't help but laugh at the answer. "You're terrible, Felicia."

"Terribly horny. Don't deny it, you'd go for it too!"

Jessica stayed silent, not truly knowing how to answer to that remark. After a few minutes of driving, Felicia gasped.

"O-oh no!"

"What's wrong?" Jessica said.

"I...I forgot to get cat food!" Felicia replied.

"You got a cat?"

"Her name's Anastasia! Oh, poor kitty! Don't worry! Momma's gonna feed you!" Felicia abruptly did a U-turn and drove as fast as she could to the nearest pet store.

After that harrowing incident, Felicia drove up to the Parker Residence in Queens. "Here we are," Felicia commented. "Pretty humble."

Jessica ignored her and jumped out of the car, falling on to the ground. "Thank you sweet ground!" the brunette blurted out, kissing the ground. "I've missed you so much!"

Jessica got up and looked at her newly found friend. "I'm never going driving with you again!"

"Buzzkill," Felicia retorted with a smile. "C'mon, you gotta live a little."

"More like someone who wants to live a lot," Jessica said. The brunette sighed in relief.

"I-I'm sorry if I kinda scared you," Felicia said. "I just...I kinda wanted to have a little bit of excitement, you know?"

"It's alright, ki-I mean-Felicia," Jessica replied. "Where you of to?"

"To do whatever. Grab something to eat, nice guy or gal to f&*k. Probably. I dunno." With that, Felicia sped off from the Parker residence, the tires on her car making a screeching sound as she abruptly turned right.

* * *

**Parker Residence**

Jessica entered the house and witnessed one of the most hilarious sights she's ever seen: Kaine head locking both Peter and Ben to his armpits. The two younger Parkers squirmed in his grasp, their arms flailing about uselessly.

"C'mon, Kaine, I want the last piece of pizza!" Peter whined.

"You traitor! You said I could have it!" Ben complained.

"No! Last piece goes to the big brother. Ya should know that already!" Kaine mocked.

Aunt May walked into the living room and hit Kaine upside the head with a resounding smack. "Ow! The hell, old lady?!" Kaine said.

"Let both of them go. Now," May demanded, a glare on her face. Kaine remained strong for a few seconds until he grumbled and let both of them go.

"And I'm not old!" May added.

"Um, isn't that a streak of gray in your h-" Ben's observation was stopped when his aunt's glare turned to him. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"Ah, Jessica, you're back," May said to her favorite (re: only) niece. "The boys are all sorry you had to see that. Right?"

Jessica shrugged and moved over to the couch. "If the Three Stooges over here wanna fight, I say let them. More entertainment for me."

"F&*k. You," Kaine emphasized. May marched over to Kaine, starting pulling on his ear, and dragged him out of the room, making Peter and Ben chuckle.

Jessica looked at the last slice of pizza on the living room table and grabbed it, much to the Parker boys' annoyance. "That was supposed to be mine!" Peter said.

"Snooze you lose," Jessica said. She then took a big bite out of the pizza, emphasizing it by biting more theatrically.

"Where'd you go all day?" Ben asked.

"Eh, wif a new friend," the Parker sister said with her mouth full.

"It isn't that Felicia girl, is it?" Peter said. "I don't know why Gwen hates her so much."

"Maybe because she's taller or something, I dunno," Jessica said. "What is there to really hate about her? Other than the fact that she drives a Lambo like a f&*king bat outta hell."

"She has a Lambo? Really?" Ben asked.

The two Parker brothers sat down, with Jessica now in the middle of them. "Kinda a stupid reason, right?" Ben said. "I mean, it's not like we hate Kaine for being taller and having more muscles than us."

"Uh, Ben? That's precisely why we hate him," Peter reminded his younger brother.

"No, that's why _you_ hate him," Ben retorted.

Jessica looked up in thought. "Are all teenage boys this weird?"

"Yep," came the sound of May's voice as she and Kaine walked back into the living room. "It's not exclusive to boys either."

"What are you implying, Aunt May?" Jessica said in mock offense.

"Ho, ya spent two hours in the bathroom checkin' ya self out," Kaine pointed out.

"Not to mention, you tend to cling to the ceiling whenever you get bored. Or just for the hell of it," Peter said.

"Yeah, that is kinda weird, isn't it?" Ben wondered.

"Everyone does it!" Jessica defended, now upside down on the ceiling. She jumped back down, careful not to land on the table.

Kaine rolled his eyes. "Whatever. My shift starts in an hour, so I gotta get goin'," the (technically) oldest Parker sibling said, moving toward the door and grabbing his coat. "It's ladies night, and ya know what that means?"

"Rejection all night!" Peter and Ben sing-songed.

"See ya, s*&t for brains!" Kaine left out, closing the door behind him.

"At least someone else has a job around here," May commented. "Didn't Stark offer you that internship, Peter?"

Peter sighed. "I know, Aunt May. It's just...that and school, and being Spider-Man-"

"Oh, don't worry, dude. I got you covered for tonight," Ben said, giving his brother a thumbs-up.

"Ben, it's my turn," Jessica said.

"Never mind, then."

"Alright, I've got some bills to pay. Try not to break anything," May said. She proceeded to go upstairs to her room, leaving the Parker siblings alone once more.

Peter turned toward his sister. "Since you've been with Felicia, do you know...well, you know?"

"Yeah I do, Peter. I mean, anyone with basic deductive skills probably knows from looking at her face and hair. I didn't say anything because then, she'd suspect something."

"Oh good. Good," Peter said in relief.

"Y'know, there's something I've been meaning to ask," Ben began. "How come people in comic books always think that a domino mask is good enough to cover their secret identity when in reality it wouldn't work?"

"Tch, you got me, Ben. I have no idea," Peter said quickly. "Anyway-"

"Probably 'cause people in comic books are morons," Jessica commented. "I mean, look at Superman. You mean to tell me no one figured out who he was?"

"That is true," Ben said.

"Back on track!" Peter said. "Jessica. The other night, you went after Felicia but didn't put her in jail?"

"I tried to," Jessica defended. "She's kinda crafty. For being, well, her."

"I got it, now!" Ben said. "It's a Batman-Catwoman dynamic!"

"BEN!" both Jessica and Peter said in annoyance.

* * *

**Midtown, Manhattan - Night**

Felicia Hardy exited the elevator, holding bags filled with clothes and cat food, and walked down the hallways of her expensive apartment building. To any other ordinary New Yorker, right now would be the time for settling in and just having a cozy time in your place; to Felicia, that means it was time for another night on the town as the Black Cat.

_Wonder what place I'm gonna hit up this time,_ she thought. _Probably not another jewelry store. Wait! There was that one exhibit in Hudson Square. Yeah. Or that art museum near Chelsea._

To be perfectly honest, Felicia didn't really need to go out and steal from places; she already was rich to begin with. She did it for...well, that part wasn't so simple to explain. At least, not to her. It didn't really matter anyways; a good thrill is a good thrill.

Felicia stopped at her door and took out her keys. "Aha! Here it is!" she exclaimed. "Thought I'd forget again, huh? Nope. Score one for Felicia! And now I'm rambling to myself again."

She entered her apartment and closed the door behind her. She put the bags down and switched on the light. When the light was switched on, she jumped back in surprise. "WHOA! S*&T!" she yelled out.

Felicia saw six armed men with AK-47s, with one of the men pointing their weapon at Felicia's unconscious mother, Lydia, who also had her hands taped to her back and her mouth. "T-take it easy!" Felicia said, holding out her arms in a 'calm down' gesture. "We don't have to be pointing weapons at anyone. Especially not my mom, now w-who the f&*k are you guys?!"

"I'm hurt that you don't remember me, amíga," a Spanish-accented voice said. Felicia looked to the right of the armed men and saw a young woman with silver similar to herself, in an equally silver outfit. The young woman had a smug, self-satisfied smile on her face as she held a black furred cat in her arms.

"You put Anastasia down right now!" Felicia hissed. The other silver belle chuckled and put the cat on the ground, who scurried over to Felicia. "Are you ok, kitty? Did that mean lady hurt you?" she comforted, petting the cat.

"It's very nice to see you again, La Gata Negra," the silver belle said.

"What do you want, Sablinova?" Felicia questioned, a scowl now on her face. The self-satisfied grin on the other young woman's face remained.

"I think you know exactly what I want," Sablinova replied. "Remember your father's debts?"

"I thought you put that all behind you. It's done, Silver!" Felicia said.

Silver's smile still remained. "No. Not done. Never. You know what you have to do now. Or," she trailed off, looking at one of the armed men pointing a gun at Felicia's mom. "Does Señora Hardy have to pay the price?"

Felicia gritted her teeth at the other young woman; if her mother wasn't involved in this, she'd tell Silver to go f&*k herself and take them all out in a badass battle. Plus, touching Anastasia without her permission? That would've been a death sentence. However, this wasn't any other situation, and the life of her mother was at stake. So, Felicia huffed out in anger.

"S&*t. Fine, Silver. What do I have to do?"

Silver Sablinova's grin widened at Felicia's conceding. "Well, allow me to explain..."

* * *

**Yep. I brought in the Silver Sable in this story. Don't worry, I'm not going to make her cartoonish-ly villainous. Just extremely antagonistic and cold hearted. And I made her Spanish. From Spain. Why? 'Cause it's cool.**

**Read and Review.**


	14. The Cat and the Sable

**Parker Residence**

**Night**

**Jessica's POV**

"Come on, come on," I mumbled to myself. Right now, I was in Peter's room, playing Destiny 2 on his Xbox. I gotta admit, it is a pretty fun if really intense game. One that I wasn't doing so hot in. Hey, I'm an artificial person made by a wackjob, what do you expect? Wonder if he's still out there.

"F&*k!" I exclaimed, mashing the buttons, even more frantic. "Goddammit, you s&*tbag! Why can't I kill you?!"

"There's one thing you didn't inherit: my mad gaming skillz," Peter commented with a grin that made me wanna punch him,

"Don't say that ever again," I replied, my eyes still focused on the screen. After a few seconds, I was greeted to the sight of the death screen. "Son of a bitch!"

Peter practically snatched the controller away from me. "Give me that! I'll show you how it's done."

Feeling insulted by his tone, I decided to have a little bit of fun with this. "It's because I'm a girl that you think I suck at this, huh?"

"W-what?!" Peter squeaked out; it's funny when his voice gets all high-pitched like that.

"Just admit it, you chauvinist!" I said.

"N-no, w-why would you-I'd never-of course that's-" I interrupted his stammering response by laughing so hard, I rolled on the bed and was kicking my feet.

"HAHAHAHAHA! You should've seen the look on your face!" I said. Kind of a bitchy thing to do, I know, but I had to get back at Peter. You know how brothers are, right? I mean, if you don't have siblings then maybe you should ignore...screw it, moving on.

"Shouldn't you be out by now?" Peter asked, annoyed.

"Not time, yet," I told him, reaching for the controller. He held me back by putting his hand on my forehead. "Give it! I wasn't done yet!"

"What do you mean 'not time, yet'? Bad guys don't exactly have a set schedule," Peter said. I stopped reaching for the controller.

I scoffed at his remark. "God, could you imagine if they did? 'Hey Jimbo, today we got that 1:45 appointment for robbing the Federal Reserve! Oh, just move that to 4:00 Bobby, we gotta hit up the Chrysler Building for a terrorist attack right now'."

I just realized, I have a weird way of going about things.

"You have a weird sense of humor, Jess," Peter commented.

"Oh yeah, well...your face!" I retorted. Not my best comeback, I know.

Peter rolled his eyes and put the controller down. "I gotta ask you something: why didn't you put Felicia in jail?"

Before I was able to respond, he raised his hand up and said "The real reason."

Could I really tell him? I got two options: either say it's because she's smoking hot (I mean, have you seen her?) or it's because I'm nervous. Nervous that she'll find out her new friend is actually the same superhero whose been foiling her plans and lying about it. Because keeping secrets from your friends is totally what friends do, right?

"I don't wanna talk about it," I answered.

"Besides," I turned to the door threshold to see Ben, brushing his teeth, standing there. "If she does, Petey, whose to say that kitty wouldn't escape and swear vengeance on her, becoming our dear sister's, and us by extension, long time enemies?"

"Ben, this isn't a comic book," Peter said. "Things don't work like that."

"Bruh, we live in a world where intergalactic gods come and try to take over the world!" Ben exclaimed.

I raised an eyebrow at Ben's outburst. Bless his little naïve, child-like heart, but he does have a point on this one. "He's right, Peter," I said.

"Dear Lord, I'm surrounded by cray people," Peter groaned. Says the guy who decided to take on a Lizard-man by himself. Me, cray?! No way!

Dude, I just realized, I could totally be a rapper! MC Widow is the name and I want you to know, I don't do gangs or any other kinda blow!

Weaksauce.

I got up from the bed and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I started taking off-whoa! Ok, you're probably reading this, waiting for a free peep show (or literary peep show) to get your d&*ks wet. Nope. Only thing I'm gonna tell you is that my superhero outfit? Made totally out of my organic webbing that comes from my fingertips. For some odd reason, it turns red everywhere else, but the spider logo is white? Maybe I'm doing it unconsciously? Who knows and who really gives a s&*t.

Look out! Here comes the Spider-Girl! Not Red Widow.

* * *

**Manhattan**

**Night**

**No POV**

Jessica, as the Red Widow, was sticking to a glass window pane on a high rise, surveying the city down below. She found no sign of any attempted robberies, terrorist attacks, hell, not even one carjacking or purse snatching.

"Good, for now," she mumbled to herself. She began wall-crawling up the high rise when suddenly-

*SPIDER SENSE TINGLING*

Jessica was drawn to the left, where she detached herself from the high rise. Jumping down, she eventually latched on to a brick wall of another tall building and crawled up. When she got to the rooftop, she moved toward the ledge and looked down to see a silver van heading somewhere. Wanting to still be out of sight, Jessica jumped to the next rooftop after rooftop, following the van.

"Yeah, learned this from Metal Gear Solid," the brunette said out loud. "I've really gotta stop talking to myself. But it makes these missions so fun."

Having to web swing a few places, because of course all buildings weren't super close to each other, Jessica eventually tracked the truck to the Roxxon Energy Corporation.

Feeling her spider-sense flare up, Jessica jumped down from the building she was on and hid behind a dumpster around 40 feet away from the van. When she saw the passenger door open, her eyes scrunched in confusion.

"Black Cat?" she said, baffled. "Huh, moving on up from jewelry stores to multi-million dollar companies, hm?" She thought a little bit to herself; it did all seem slightly fishy. One moment it's jewelry stores and art museums and now this?

Jessica shook her head. "Too big a leap. This is something else."

* * *

"I'm not one to ask questions, but what exactly are we doing here?" Black Cat asked out loud, looking up at the Roxxon building.

Silver approached her from the side. "In this place, there is a highly valuable bioweapon that you and I intend to take."

"Bioweapon?!" Black Cat exclaimed. "I-I thought we were hitting up museums and s&*t!"

"Oh, gatíta," Silver said, shaking her head. "You were always a small thinker. Jewelry? Paintings? No. This is the big time." Silver put her arm around Black Cat's shoulder. "I expect that you'll hold up the bargain, right?"

Black Cat wanted so desperately to refuse, but then she thought about her mother, her cat, and her father's 'debts'. She gulped and nodded. "We get whatever it is that's in here and get the f&*k out, ok?"

"Perfecta!" Silver said, enthusiastic. She whistled and out of the van came three men: one in a purple outfit carrying twin Berettas, one muscled man in a red, blue and yellow outfit, and another in a red and yellow outfit holding some kind of skateboard.

"Pablo," Silver said, addressing the purple outfitted man.

'Pablo' sighed. "My name is Paul. Or Paladin, if you wanna be professional."

"Nonsense, that's what I said: Pablo," Silver replied.

"It's Paladin!" he replied.

Felicia giggled a tad bit. "Something funny?" Paul said.

"Y-you're name-hehehe-is...it's Paladin?" Black Cat asked.

"What's wrong with that? It's cool, right?" he replied, defensive.

"You gotta admit, it is a stupid name," the skateboard wielding guy said.

"Yeah, like 'Rocket Racer' is any better," Paladin said, scoffing.

"You guys are f&*kin' idiots," the red, blue, and yellow man said.

"Oh go fuck yourself, Carl!" Paladin and Rocket Racer said in unison.

"Silencio!" Silver rang out, bringing everyone to attention. "You all remember the plan, don't you?"

"Yes ma'am!" all three of them said.

"I'm impressed, Sablinova," Felicia said, crossing her arms. "You got them all acting like an army unit."

"When I say jump, they all ask how high. You'll see what they're capable of quite soon, Felicia," Silver bragged, a cold smile on her face. "Wild Pack, let's mov-before I forget: Carlito? Did Raúl give you la antorcha?"

Carl looked at Silver, not understanding the word. Silver sighed. "The torch. Did he give you the torch?"

* * *

Jessica watched as the group moved forward to the back door of the company, with the guy in the red, blue and yellow outfit using a torch to get past the locked door and enter.

"Alright, Jess. It's showtime!" the brunette said to herself. She crawled back onto the rooftop from which she came and web swung to the top of the Roxxon building. Landing, she took notice of a hatch on the building's rooftop.

"Ok, these guys are either supremely confident or supremely stupid," Jessica commented. She opened the hatch and dropped down into the building.

Little did Jessica know, Silver Sablinova was watching her through binoculars, her eyebrow raised in curiosity.

* * *

The Wild Pack and the Black Cat were all walking through a hallway, when the security guards noticed them coming through. One of the guards stepped forward to try and confront the group, only to see Paladin's silenced pistol put to his forehead and-

*PHT*

Felicia looked on in horror as the security guard fell to the ground, his brains blown out and spraying blood out of the exit wound.

More security guards showed up, who were either shot or lasered to death, or one famous incident: Carl grabbing one from behind, head locking him tightly, and breaking his neck with a very audible *CRRRK*.

"Oh, Jesus!" Black Cat exclaimed, recoiling in horror.

"Oh calm down, darlin'. He's just taking a nap. The long dirt nap, that is," Carl said, chuckling.

_Where did Silver find these psychos?_ the platinum blonde thought as they continued forward. More needless bloodshed occurred, including the Rocket Racer using his fueled skateboard to burn one of the guards' face off. After a minute, they all reached a door with a panel next to it.

"S*," Paladin mumbled. "One of those fingerprint things. You," he said, pointing his pistol at Black Cat. "Drag one of those dead guys over here."

"Hey, hey, hey! N-no problem, man. None at all," Black Cat said, scurrying over to one of the dead guards. "F&^k me with a spoon," she mumbled, looking at one of the corpses. She started dragging the corpse, but was lagging.

"Hurry up!" Rocket Racer said.

"I'm sorry! You'd think a guy so skinny wouldn't weigh so much!" Black Cat commented.

She dragged the corpse over to where the Wild Pack were and Paladin pushed her out of the way. Paladin took the dead guard's hand and put his finger onto the panel. "Access granted," a computerized voice said. The group went in to see a glass contraption with multiple handles and a green-ish blue-ish fluid inside, surrounded by laser security beams.

"Hold on, I got this," Black Cat commented. She took out her makeup mirror and held it to one of the beams, redirecting it and destroying the other turrets that were also projecting the beams.

"Wow," a voice rang out. The Wild Pack and Black Cat turned around to see the Red Widow. "Makeup mirror life cheat. I gotta say, that's awesome, kitty."

"Paladin! Rocket Racer!" Carl commanded. "Take her out!"

Red Widow giggled. "Your name is Paladin? Oh, uh, yeah, you are so going down!"

The Red Widow ran toward the group, nimbly dodging and avoiding both Paladin's bullets and Rocket Racer's laser beams. Carl nearly tripped her up, but thanks to her spider-sense, she jumped over him and gave him a karate chop to the neck, disorienting him. She landed on the ground and shot a web at Rocket Racer's skateboard, pulling it toward her. "Oh s&*t, you got a jet powered skateboard," Red Widow said, surveying the item. "Sweet."

Red Widow used the skateboard to block the gunfire coming from Paladin. "Seriously though, Paladin?" she asked, shooting a web at Rocket Racer's face. She backflipped and hit Racer upside the head with the skateboard, knocking him out and breaking the board. "What're you, a World of Warcraft fanboy or something? I guess we all gotta have a hobby besides killing people. B-t-dubs, I saw what you did back there, and yeah, I'm gonna have to give you a major beatdown. Not enough to kill you, 'cause I'm not down with that, but enough to probably give you a major concussion. And probably a broken spleen for wha-"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?!" Paladin screamed. "Christ, you're a chatterbox!"

Jessica smirked behind her mask. "I can't help it, small talk is my forte."

"I can't wait to shut that trap of yours!" he retorted. "Carl! Help me out, here!"

"Y-you're buddy's name is Carl?!" Red Widow said, turning toward the other man. "Y'know what, I give up. I realize that I'm outmatched." Red Widow put her hand up to her forehead in a theatrical pose. "I'm so helpless that just gonna stand and tremble in fear of the terrible, ghastly, almighty Carl!" She couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing.

"Actually, I was thinking of calling myself 'the Crippler'," Carl said.

Red Widow laughed even harder. "The Crippler? Ok, now you're just f&*king with me!"

Paladin looked at Black Cat, who shrugged. Carl took the opportunity to try and fight Red Widow, who was still overcome with laughter; her spider-sense kicked in and she caught a fist from Carl, who then retaliated with a kick to the face. Red Widow ducked under that and punched Carl in the groin, making him scream out in pain. She twisted his arm, breaking it and punched him in the face, knocking him out.

"Ok, WoW fanboy, now you get yours," Red Widow said. She then engaged in hand-to-hand with the Paladin; to her surprise, he actually did manage to get in a few lucky hits on the spider-girl, catching her on the side and in the ribs. She shot a web out at his feet, tripping him up and stomped on his chest hard, knocking the wind out of him. She then kicked him in the face, rendering him unconscious.

"No leveling up for you!" Red Widow boasted. She then turned to the Black Cat, who stayed out of the whole conflict. "Now what was I about to say-oh yeah-WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL, KITTY!"

"I-I know this looks bad," Black Cat began. "But you don't understand-"

"You're right, I don't. This is all too big for someone like you. So who's the chick you're working for?" Red Widow grilled.

Her question was answered when she looked up and saw Silver herself jump down from the roof opening. Silver unleashed two knives and began attacking at the Red Widow with breakneck speed. Her spider-sense now in overdrive, Red Widow caught one of Silver's hands and pushed her far back.

"Who are you?!" she demanded.

"I've been thinking about calling myself Silver Sable once more," Silver said. The young woman looked around to see her men knocked out. "I'm impressed. No one's taken out any of my Wild Pack so quickly, arañita."

"I aim to please," Red Widow said. "And by the way, Silver Sable? Really? How predictable can you be? Your van's in silver, you have silver hair, silver everything! What is it with you? I bet werewolves know not to f&*k with you, huh?"

Silver narrowed her eyes in annoyance and engaged in battle with the spider-girl once more; Red Widow's spider-sense didn't catch Silver stomping hard on one of her feet. The pain distracted her long enough for Silver to spin at Red Widow; although Red Widow was not shish-kabobbed, she did get a cut on her collarbone.

"WHOA!" the Red Widow exclaimed. "You really need to put those down!" She shot out a web at Silver's feet and yanked, tripping her up. The silver haired young woman quickly recovered.

However, Red Widow was starting to feel woozy. "Did-didn't your m-mom tell you not-not to p-not-" She sunk down to the ground, knocked out.

"Tsk, fácil," Silver Sable said. She looked at Black Cat and smiled. "I believe we got what we came for."

"Silver, I did not sign up for all of this!" Black Cat said. "You didn't say s&*t about anybody getting killed!"

"Why do you fret, Felicia? It's just an occupational hazard. That's all."

"That's all?" Felicia repeated in disbelief. "Silver! Nine people are dead and I'm an accessory to murder because of you! I don't get down like this!"

Silver Sable marched toward Felicia. "You made a deal to pay off his debts and now you have. What is your problem?"

"You really don't get it, do you?" Felicia said. "People are dead and now-wait, what're you gonna do to her?"

Silver looked down at the unconscious body of the Red Widow and pointed her knives at her. "Kill her, por supuesto. She's a witness to all of this. You honestly don't want to go to jail, now do you?"

"Of course not," Felicia retorted. The platinum blonde then scowled at Silver. "What I also can't do is let you kill her." She was prepared to charge at the other young woman if necessary.

Before she could react, Silver hit Felicia with a tranquilizer and watched the platinum blonde sunk to the ground. "Lo siento, mi gatíta," she said, a sad look on her face.

* * *

**Read and Review.**


	15. A Silver Lining

**Since this is a more comedic take on the Marvel Universe, even someone as cold as Silver Sable is more comedic. Just to let you know. And even though this story is mostly humorous, there is adventure and drama. Now on with the story.**

* * *

The Red Widow's eyes fluttered open and she saw that she was in a mostly dark room, lit only by a single hanging lightbulb. The brunette groaned and felt that she was sitting in a chair, her arms tied behind her and her feet were also bound. Jessica looked next to her and saw an awake Felicia, also in the same predicament as her.

"You alright, spider?" Black Cat asked. "You were out for quite a while."

"I'm fine. For now, at least," Red Widow replied. She shook her head and chuckled. "Of course I would get mixed up in some action movie s&*t on taco night." She looked over at Felicia and scowled behind her mask. "I still can't believe you!" the spider-girl said in outrage. "I would expect this from some Bond villain but not you!"

"You don't understand, spider," Black Cat began. "I-I didn't have a choice! She forced this on to me!"

"You looked pretty willing riding in that van with her," Red Widow commented. "God, I should've known that you'd be just like every other lowlife scumbag in New York. First it was robbery, now you're killin-"

"She was gonna kill my mom!" the platinum blonde blurted out. "And my cat! What the hell am I supposed to do, let her?"

"You could've just said that when we were back at Roxxon," Red Widow said snarkily.

"I was, until Silver interrupted us." Black Cat looked at Jessica, then down at herself and chuckled. "If it weren't for the fact that we're both probably gonna die in a few seconds, this would be the hottest thing ever," Cat admitted.

"Not now, Felicia," the brunette groaned.

The platinum blonde's eyes widened at that. "H-how do you know who I am? You been stalking me, haven't you. No no no, wait: Spider-Man, right?"

Red Widow sooffed. "Even without Pe-er, Spider-Man's-help, _anyone_ can figure out who you are. Lots of people in Manhattan are very aware that you're a shopaholic. Word of advice: upgrade the domino mask, Pussy Galore."

"Well, f&*k. I guess my dad was right!" Felicia said.

"Who?"

"My dad. He was-" Felicia's explanation was interrupted when the door to the room opened up and in walked the Silver Sable with a cold smile on her face and a sword attached to her back. Paladin and the Crippler were standing guard at the door.

"Hello ladies," Sable greeted mockingly. "Look who's come back to the land of the living. How was your beauty rest, hm?"

"Wonderful. Being knocked out with tranquilizer is just a blast," Red Widow snarked.

"I always prepare for dealing with unknown variables. That is what mi papa taught me," the silver haired woman replied. It was as if she was having a normal conversation and not talking to two kidnap victims.

"Lemme guess, your Daddy also taught you that stealing and murder was just fine as well?" Red Widow bit back.

Silver Sable snarled and punched Red Widow in the face, eliciting a cry of pain from the brunette. "S&*t!" she exclaimed. "Y'know, that was really uncalled for!"

The other woman leaned into the brunette's face menacingly, her snarling expression still in place. She then took out her sword and held it, her grip tightening. "Don't. Ever. Take mi papa's name in vain."

"Silver, what the f&*k is going on?!" Felicia said, anger in her voice.

"Wait? You know her?" Red Widow asked, shocked.

Sable laughed and shook her head a bit. "Oh arañita, does she know me..."

It could not be seen, but Red Widow's face morphed into one of confusion at Silver's trailing off and her mischievous tone. That is, until Jessica further looked at the silver haired girl's eyes and smirk. She looked back at Felicia, whose eyes were darting all across the room. Jessica did a double take between the two and it finally hit: her brain went from 'WTH' to 'Gets it'.

"You and her?" Red Widow said, her tone one of disbelief.

"I-it was a phase," Felicia stammered quickly.

"Aww, mi gatíta. I'm hurt that that's what you think of me," Sable mocked, putting her left hand over her heart.

"So that's your motivation?" Red Widow began. "You're just some jealous ex. Wow. I mean, woooow. Good Lord, just when I thought villains couldn't get any la-" Her insult was halted when, with almost blinding speed, Sable had her sword up to Jessica's neck.

"¡Silencio, maldito coño!" she yelled. Realizing what she was doing, Sable sheathed her sword behind her back. "You're very agitating, you know that?"

"Part of my charm!" Red Widow said, grinning behind her mask.

Silver Sable took a few calming breaths and put her poker face back on. "What I have in my possession is called a Neuro-Cortex. I've heard that it can be used to either cure people with certain mutations, or, wait for it: give people certain mutations."

"This matters to me why?" Felicia snarked.

"It doesn't really. Honestly, you could care less, right?" Silver looked up at the ceiling and back down at the two. "But you two are loose ends..."

"Hold on! Y-you're not planning to have Dumb and Dumber over there ravage our bodies and then put a bullet in our heads and keep ravaging us, are you? Because that would totally put a dent in my plans for the next week," Felicia rambled.

Both Silver and Red Widow looked at her in utter shock. "Dark," the brunette commented.

"That's disgusting!" Silver Sable exclaimed. "No. You two are either going to take the fall for all of this, or Pablo and Carlito over here kill you both. Your choice."

"My name is Paul!" Paladin whined. "Why doesn't anyone listen to me?"

"Stop ya f&*kin' pissin' and moanin' pal," Crippler grumbled. " 'Sides, she got my name wrong, too."

"You have no idea what kind of pay day this will be for me and mi familia," Sable said. "Sooooo, yeah, that's it."

"That's your 'evil' plan?" Red Widow said. "You're some two-bit merc that just wants to sell the thing so you can get rich? Seriously? This is like some bad cop thriller movie plot. You ever seen Die Hard? That's what this is right now! And you're Hans Gruber!"

"You're already filthy f&*kin' rich in Spain, Silver! The hell do ya need more money for?!" Felicia said in outrage, her NY accent becoming stronger.

"Why not? After all, dinero makes the world go green, as they say."

"Um, I don't think that's how they say it in America," Paladin rang out. Silver turned and glared at him, which made him gulp in fear. "Shutting up now."

The silver haired young woman turned back to the spider and the cat. "I am far from two-bit, arañita. Since I've moved up to kidnapping, I suggest you be more polite."

"Yeah, polite. Sure." Red Widow sighed and started back up again. "Except for one thing: you're don't have what it takes."

"Oh," Sable replied, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms.

Red Widow narrowed her eyes at the other woman and took a breath. "I haven't heard Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Idiot, or Speed Racer call you by your name once. That means your involvement with them is still fresh. You have a past history with Kitty right here, and I can tell from the way you gave her a pet name that you still have a soft spot for her. That's why you didn't kill her back at the Roxxon Corporation if you thought she was gonna be a loose end. And it's painfully obvious that you didn't account for me, otherwise you'd have had some kind of backup plan or something. Oh, and your knives: they shouldn't be coated with anything other than poison. Hardly the trait of a hardened merc. Or you're probably still new at this, right?"

Silver, Felicia, and everyone else in the vicinity were all silent at the spider-girl's rant and deduction. "Face it, you're nothing more than a glorified thug, Silver Weasel," she finished, her voice now in full on taunting mode.

Sable's face was pure stone at this point, worrying Felicia, who looked over to Red Widow. The mercenary said nothing as she turned to leave, but not before saying something to Paladin and Crippler.

"Make her death the most excruciating," she said, voice like ice. Sable looked at Felicia one last time. "For all it's worth, lo siento, La Gata Negra."

Felicia and Red Widow watched as Silver left the room, leaving Paladin and Crippler to grin at the two women. "Great. You just had to say something," Felicia said.

"Yep. Felt good too," Red Widow confirmed.

"I don't wanna die, my body's too sexy!" Felicia whined.

"There we go. Whine for us. It's music to our ears," Crippler said as he and Paladin got closer. Little did they know, the Black Cat was already cutting the ropes behind her. "Gonna cry? Gonna-gonna piss your pants, maybe? Maybe s^&t and c*m?"

"I say we just put a bullet through their heads," Paladin suggested. "It's easy and to the point."

"You're no fun 'Pablo'," Crippler said.

"Just shut up."

"Don't worry, kitty. I think it's gonna be all good," Red Widow said.

"Is that so?" Felicia retorted.

"Yep."

In a flash, Red Widow burst out of her restraints and grabbed the chair, hitting Paladin with it. Felicia finally cut through her restraints and kicked the Crippler in the nose, making blood seep out. She then punched him in the groin, sending him to the ground. Felicia finished this by kicking him in the face, knocking him out.

"That was a close one," Red Widow said.

"Yeah. If they wanted for us to be S&M models, they could've at least asked," Felicia said with a mischievous grin. "B-t-dubs, what're you doing this Saturday?"

"There's the pussycat I know," the brunette said.

* * *

The two women exited the room to find that they were in a practically empty airplane hangar. There were military issued jets of every kind, multiple colors, and some private jets.

"Wow," Red Widow said.

"You know us rich girls. High maintenance," Black Cat commented. The two ran and scanned their eyes through all of the possible jets that Sable might be using.

"Come on, come on, come on," Red Widow said. "Where are you, Weasel?!"

"For the record, I just wanna say I'm sorry!" Cat said, running alongside Red Widow. "I-I didn't know how crazy this was gonna get."

"Just another Tuesday for me!" Red Widow joked. The two stopped running when the sound of a jet whirring up rang out; Red Widow and Black Cat looked to the left to see a silver jet in the air, ready to take off.

"Of course, the silver one," the brunette spider-girl groaned.

"S&*t!" Felicia shouted. "She's getting away!"

"Not on my watch. Follow me." Jessica shot two webs at two adjacent walls and quickly stepped back, building tension in the ropes. She grunted as she pulled harder and harder until she propelled herself forward in a sort-of Superman 'leap in a single bound' style manner. Felicia started running outside to where the jet was hovering.

"Why didn't I f&*kin' bring my car with me?!" the platinum blonde complained.

"WHHHHHHOOOOOOOO!" Red Widow yelled as she went through the air, the harsh wind against her face. "GOOD THING I'M WEARING A MAAAAASK!"

Silver Sable was in her jet, the Neuro-Cortex device seated right next to her. "This is gonna be a really long flight," she commented. "Should've used the bathroom befor-"

*CLANK*

The silver haired mercenary heard a sound coming from the jet. She looked at the control panel to make sure that everything was in order. She whipped her head up to see Red Widow perched on the glass, waving at her.

"I don't think you have a license to pilot this plane, ma'am," she joked. "I'm gonna have to ask you to land this thing!"

"¡Hijo de puta!" Sable exclaimed in anger. She turned the yoke and the jet flipped over. Much to the mercenary's chagrin, the spider-girl still remained perched.

"Spider powers, remember? That includes being extra sticky!"

The Red Widow punched the glass of the jet and tore it away. Sable jumped on to the center of the plane and Widow followed suit. The spider-girl was met with a swipe from the Silver Sable's katana, nearly catching her in the neck.

"Whoa! Sharp, pointy thing bad!" the brunette joked. She launched forward and tackled Sable off the jet; the two went hurdling toward the ground, saved only by a last minute line of webbing from the spider-girl. Red Widow dropped Sable on to the ground and followed suit.

The two women were now in a Mexican standoff. "Why can't you just leave me alone!" Sable shouted..

"After everything you did and how you left dead people in your path?" Red Widow began, shocked. "Oh hell no! Your ass is 'bout to get stomped to the curb!"

Sable charged at Red Widow, sword in hand, and jumped, performing a vertical swipe. Red Widow's spider-sense kicked in and she very narrowly caught the blade...

….between her two open palms.

_Holy s%^t! I-I did the thing! Like in karate movies!_ she thought excitedly. Sable sweep kicked Widow with one of her legs and stabbed down at the ground, missing as the spider-girl rolled away. Red Widow recovered and webbed the sword out of Sable's hands.

"No! Bad girl!" the brunette said, wagging her finger.

With lightning speed, Sable charged at Red Widow with hand to hand; although her spider-sense was good at helping her dodge some hits, Red Widow soon fell victim to a blow to the chest, neck, and stomach. Sable caught Widow's arm and judo-flipped the girl, proceeding to put one foot on her back painfully.

"Goodbye, arañita," Sable cooed. Before she could do anything, the silver haired mercenary was kicked away. She looked up and saw Black Cat attacking her; being caught off guard, Sable caught a roundhouse kick to the jaw, which made her stumble.

"Why?" Sable questioned.

"This is out of control, Silver! This has to stop!"

"Stop?!" Silver snarled. She looked over at the Red Widow, then back to Cat. "I get it. You're gonna choose her over me, Gata?! We could be such a good team here! Remember Spain?!"

"I do." Felicia and Sable charged at each other, locked in hand to hand fighting.

Red Widow, surveying the fight, was waiting for just the right moment to jump in; she saw her chance when Silver kicked Black Cat hard in the chest. The brunette sprinted toward her and wrapped her up in her organic webbing, forming a cocoon around the woman. Afterwards, she moved toward the Black Cat, who ha a hand to her chest in pain. "You ok?"

"Yeah. I've been kicked harder before," Cat reassured. "Part of foreplay."

"Seriously, is sex all you think about?!" Red Widow exclaimed.

"Only on days ending in 'y'," the feline thief answered back cheekily.

* * *

**Back in Manhattan**

**4:24 a.m.**

Felicia Hardy was sitting on the ledge of one of the many rooftops in the borough of Manhattan. However, she was not alone; the Red Widow was sitting next to her, holding the Neuro-Cortex in her hands.

The Black Cat sighed, looking at the view of the city. "They said they were gonna extradite her back to Spain," she said.

"That's a good thing, so far," the spider-girl commented. "But what if she escapes?"

Felicia shook her head. "She won't hit up the same place twice. She's smart like that."

"We can still run into her again. Her knowing who you are just makes it worse," Red Widow stated.

"I know, I know!" Felicia ran a hand through her hair. "I can't believe she chooses now to jump back into my life. I-I just made this friend last month, her name is Jessica. She's pretty cool. Kinda cute too. Especially those long legs, her sweet rack and that tight a-"

"O-ok, alright," the spider-girl interrupted, blushing behind her mask. "Enough of that!"

"What? She's a nice, friendly girl too!" Felicia said, defensive. She sighed and clenched her fists. "If Silver were to ever find out about her-"

"It would be bad," Red Widow finished.

"Look, please, I know we've had our differences and I'm a thief and you're a goody-two-shoes with an amazing ass, but if you see her or save her, you cannot ever tell Jessica who I am!" Felicia rambled. "It would ruin everything!"

"Your secret is safe with me," Red Widow said. "I promise."

Felicia glomped the brunette. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!"

After a few seconds, the feline thief broke the hug. "So, what're you up to, now?"

"I gotta send this back to Roxxon," Red Widow said. "Have you heard about what those a&*holes are like? If they find out about this thing being missing for long, who knows what they'll do to get it back."

"Yeah, I know."

Before Red Widow could swing away, she said "I know you and Sable had something together, but maybe now, you can put her behind you."

Felicia watched as Red Widow swung away. "I'm not so sure if I can."

As Jessica was web-slinging through Manhattan, various memories of started to flash through her head of her brother. One memory was of him as Spider-Man swinging away from a blonde girl he had just saved from a giant Lizard-man.

_Is this how Peter was with Gwen before she found out. Maybe...no. No, Felicia can't know,_ Jessica thought to herself.

* * *

**End of Vol. 2**

* * *

**Post-Script**

Gwen Stacy was in her room, practicing on her drum kit as she had her headphones on. Usually, this would be an unremarkable, rather mundane sight, except for one thing:

She was upside down, on the ceiling as she was doing so.

The blonde girl was practicing until she heard a knock on her door. "Gwen?" her mother, Helen Stacy said.

Gwen took out her headphones and jumped down from the ceiling nimbly. She moved toward the door and opened it up slightly. "Yeah mom?"

"Are you ok?" Helen asked.

"Fine, I think," Gwen answered.

"You haven't come out of your room all day, not even for dinner."

"Nah, mom. It's nothing, it's...I gotta go."

"Gwen-"

"Bye." The blonde girl shut the door quickly and sighed in relief. She looked at her bed, which had a white hoodie, a pair of white and black yoga pants, and a mask next to a needle and thread.

"That was close."

* * *

**So that was Vol. 2 of the story. I really hope-KRRRZZT**

**Post Script #2**

In an unknown city, a nude Liz Allan Toomes was being accosted by four men in ski masks and hoods, all of them carrying knives. The four men were harassing Liz, grabbing her and touching her inappropriately. She screamed to the delight of the men.

"Come on, honey. Let's see what you workin' with," one of the thugs said.

"NO!" Liz screamed. "GET AWAY!"

One of the men, who was holding her by the throat, noticed that her eyes had turned bright orange. Before the man could react, Liz's entire body was bathed in flames, burning all four of the men to a crisp.

As soon as Liz calmed down and extinguished the flames from her body, she looked at the charred, scorched husks that used to be four men assaulting her in horror. Tears ran down her now orange eyes as she ran off once more. As she ran, her body burst into flames once more and soon, she was flying through the air. To the ordinary onlooker, it looked like a shooting star was flying through the sky.

* * *

**Is something big happening soon? What do you think?**


	16. Interlude: Another Day in the Life Of

**Aunt May and Jessica**

The Parker ladies were currently in the living room of their humble abode, with Aunt May sitting on the couch and Jessica sitting on the floor below her. The older woman was combing through the seventeen year old's hair, struggling to get through the wild, untamed, jungle of brown on her head.

"OW!" Jessica yelped.

"Oh don't worry, we're only halfway done," May reassured.

Jessica huffed out in annoyance. "Why did you have to do this right now? Couldn't this wait until next weekend or something?"

"No. Not a minute more," May said. "Besides, I'm getting tired of just looking at this...tangled thing on your head and I'm betting so are you."

"It does get annoying having it all in your face when you wake up," Jessica admitted. "Still-ow!"

"Christ, it's like a bird's nest," May mumbled. "Take it from me: I have long hair also-obviously-and I do this almost every morning."

"Didn't it ever occur to you that I may not have a problem with my hair, Aunt May?" Jessica challenged, wincing in pain as May combed through her hair again.

"Nope. Now I have someone else that knows the struggle," the aunt said. She fluffed and straightened out Jessica's hair and sighed happily. "There! Now you don't look like that girl from Peter's scary movies."

"Nice to know I looked like a girl who drowned in a well to you, old lady," Jessica grumbled, to which May flicked her on the back of the head. "Hey! The heck?!"

"I'm not old," May stressed.

"You're just...experienced," Jessica teased with a smile. She ran her hands through her hands and looked on with wide eyes. "You're right! This does feel better!"

"See. I know what I'm talking about," May said.

"Thanks Aunt May," Jessica said. She was going to get up, but May pulled her back down. "What? What's wrong?"

"I didn't say we were finished," May said. "On to the French braid!"

"Really?!" the brunette teen exclaimed. "Come on, you already took me out shopping for clothes, make-up, and all that other stuff! Can we take a break on this?!"

"Jessica, every girl deserves to look and feel good," May said. "Look how excited you were after I combed your hair."

"Yeah-"

"And did that make you feel good?"

"I mean...I guess."

"Exactly!" May gripped Jessica's hair and started braiding it. "This won't take long. You'll look good like this. Like how any Parker lady should."

Jessica surrendered and let May toy around with her hair; she blew a strand out of her face. _I hope this doesn't happen on a regular basis..._

Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, Jessica saw May turn the TV on, which was tuned in to one of her many cheesy daytime dramas. "Ooh! I love this episode!" May said excitedly.

Jessica groaned in response. "We're not gonna get into all the makeup stuff, right?"

"Thanks for reminding me," May said, causing Jessica to groan once more. "Now shush! This is the best part!?

* * *

**Peter and Gwen**

"WOOOOOOO! I'VE ALMOST GOT YOU!" shouted the excited voice of Gwen Stacy as she and Peter swung from chain to chain in the junkyard that Peter once trained in.

"C'mon Gwendy! Keep up!" Peter teased as he swung toward another chain.

The blonde narrowed her eyes at the tone and jumped to the same chain that Peter jumped toward; the two teens bumped into each other and the chain broke under both their weights, sending them crashing onto the ground.

"You ok, bug-boy?" Gwen asked. Peter lay under her, groaning in slight pain.

"Yeah, yeah," the spider-boy responded. "Trust me, I've fallen from higher places before. This is almost nothing."

Gwen paid little attention to what Peter said as she stared at the way he was pinned under her, between her legs. She slowly leaned in and kissed him, with him kissing back and putting her hand on her backside. The blonde giggled at the action and playfully smacked his hand away.

"Easy, bug-boy," Gwen teased.

"You first, bug-girl," Peter mumbled. Gwen kissed him a few more times before they both got up and dusted themselves off. "You've been improving, blondie."

"What can I say? I've got a good teacher," Gwen said. She then proceeded to smack Peter on the ass.

"Gwen!" he exclaimed, his face turning scarlet.

"Couldn't resist," she replied, giggling. Peter smirked at her and started chasing her around, catching up with her when it was obvious that she wasn't trying to get away.

"Sheesh, you're friskier than before. Not that it's a bad thing..." Peter commented.

Gwen shrugged. "I guess it's this whole spider thing. Who knows? Maybe one day, I'll eat you up."

"S&*t, I hope not," Peter said, shuddering at the thought. "Anyways, didn't you wanna show me something?"

"Oh yeah. Right."

Gwen led Peter to where her backpack was; she opened it and showed off her newly made outfit. "TA-DA!" she shouted, holding the outfit up. Her newly made outfit was mostly black, with white on the upper body and hoodie portions. Inside of her hood was a web design pattern.

"This looks amazing!" Peter complimented. "You're really serious about this, aren't you?"

"I just wanna help out. I-I don't wanna feel useless anymore," Gwen confessed. Sensing her sad tone, Peter walked toward her and hugged her.

"You're not useless Gwen," Peter comforted, rubbing her back. "If it wasn't for you, we never would've beaten the Lizard."

"I just wanna be out there. With you," Gwen replied. They broke their hug and looked at each other. "Now you know why I haven't been around all too much."

"You've been creating this new identity for yourself. I get it," Peter said. "So, what are you gonna call yourself? Black Widow or something?"

"Isn't she an Avenger? That's copyright," Gwen joked. "How about this? Ghost Spider! Oooooooo," she said, moving her hands in a spooky way.

"Oh heavens me, I'm so terrified," Peter said sarcastically, his voice monotone. "Look out, bad guys: a ghost is gonna get you."

"Damn right!" Gwen exclaimed, ignoring Peter's sarcasm. "I'm just waiting for the right time."

"One good thing: I don't have to constantly worry about you anymore."

"Yup. From now on, Gwen Stacy ain't no damsel in distress," the blonde affirmed. "She's a bonafide badass now!"

"You go, girl!" Peter exclaimed sarcastically.

"Stop with the smartass comments," Gwen said. Peter smirked at her.

"Catch me again. Maybe I'll stop."

"It. Is. On, Parker!"

* * *

**Just a fun couple of drabbles to keep me on my toes. Next chapter is Vol. 3.**

**You know already: read and review.**


	17. Vol 3: All the Power, No Responsibility

**This next volume might get a little intense. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

New York, New York. City that Never Sleeps. Gotham. All o' 'em are s&*&*y names. Well, except for City that Never Sleeps. That part is unbelievably true. It's a city that's like a kid on a f^&kin' sugar rush; or one who's on the Internet and just found out how his d&*k works. A city like this is bound to have its many dark sides. It's like a f^&kin' s&*thole that keeps festerin'; its pungent smell just cryin' out for somebody to fix.

That's where I come in. Guy like me is always good at lookin' for the worst o' people. Must be a gift from God, if he even exists.

It's rainin', and here I am, sittin' perched on the ledge o' one o' the many buildin's in New York; and I don't mean the more glamorous, movie god, rock star Manhattan, but the s&*^, rundown, crime-infested areas like Brooklyn. This is where I make my rounds. I look down at what's goin' on below me; looks like guys runnin' drugs. One o' em's got a Uzi in his back pocket; got a snakeskin jacket too. F&*k does he think he is, a TV drug dealer or some s&*t?

Typical. This kind o' shit ain't really within Spider-Man's weight class (not like this is somethin' the little f&*khead would understand) but make no mistake: I ain't Spider-Man. Nor am I the Spider-Hood, or whatever the f*&k they call Ben. Wuss really needs to get a new name.

The f&*ker in the snakeskin jacket entered his piece o' f&*k car and started drivin' off; finally, some action. I jumped from the rooftop and started swingin' around from buildin' to buildin'. I swear, it's like the motherf^&ers o' this city are...damn, what's the word? Oh yeah, yeah, oblivious to whatever's goin' on around 'em, y'know? Good thing we ain't in Manhattan, otherwise I'll have a&*holes swarmin' me, wantin' to get a picture. Sorry, I don't do that s%^t.

As I kept swingin', my spider-sense was startin' to get stronger. F*&k yeah! Now I know some s^&t's gonna start poppin' off any minute now.

The first mistake this snakeskin wearin' son of a bitch made: he acted too shifty, too anxious. Predictable. It'll be like takin' candy from a baby at this moment.

It was about an hour before snakeskin reached where he was goin': the industrial area o' Red Hook. It's like a f^&kin' ghost town here: an abandoned parkin' lot with some storage units and only a few dudes there. Drug deal or some s*&t. At this point, who gives a f^&k? I just want some action.

I jumped down into an alleyway near the parkin' lot and listened in.

"We would see the product now," I heard Snakeskin. There's a thing about a^&holes like this: they think they're invincible. Big mistake.

"In time. Open them," another s&*t for brains said. I clung to the wall and climbed up to get a better view; s^&t for brains was handin' Snakeskin some square bag covered in tinfoil. Oh yeah. Probably heroin or somethin'.

I watched as snakeskin took a knife and cut into it, dabbin' some of it on his finger and tastin' it. Aw s^&t! It's cocaine. Damn. Oh well, these motherf&*kers are still goin' down.

"God. It's good. Really good," Snakeskin complimented.

I climbed on to the rooftop and looked down at what was goin' on. And I couldn't stand it; you know how many people they hurt runnin' drugs into this s&*thole o' a city every day? Every year? Thousands. Millions even. I ain't a big fan o' casually hurtin' people. Minor lie; most o' the time I'm content with bein' left the f&*k alone. But if someone's itchin' for a fight, I'll give it to 'em.

And these s&*theads are askin' for it.

I jumped down and landed onto one o' the storage units, drawin' the attention of the f^&khead brigade. "HEY!" One o' 'em shouted. "Listen! Whoever you are, we can work something out! Possibly for our own benefit, huh? We can negotiate!"

I jumped down about forty feet away from 'em, crouched down and ready to make my move.

"F&*k outta here," I said. " 'Fore I kill ya all."

I ain't in the mood to negotiate.

*SPIDER-SENSE TINGLING*

I see one o' the drug dealers cockin' a gun. Looks like they ain't tryin' to negotiate either. I quickly ran forward, these dudes shootin' at me as a result; lucky for me, my spider-sense turns me into that f&*kin' Neo guy from The Matrix. Man, I really gotta lay off Shrimp's nerdy little action movies.

I jump up and shot two webs at two o' the guys, yankin' it so that they both ram into each other. Hehe. Little things like that are hilarious.

I landed on the ground and another s%^thead tried to charge at me: strike three on the mistake line. I caught him with a pretty nasty kick to the mouth, knockin' out around four o' his teeth. I flipped over and gripped his arm, breakin' it with a fast twist.

Another guy tried to shoot, but I turned this f&*kin' a^&hole around and on instinct, he shot the guy that was aimin' at me. I threw the guy to the ground, unleashed my stingers and stabbed him in the stomach...kinda. I sorta, uh, stabbed him in the kidney area. So I guess it counts as his stomach area. Probably. I dunno, who gives a f&*k?

"Anyone else wanna negotiate?!" I said, still lookin' for a fight. Badass, huh?

I looked over at Snakeskin, who was frozen like Anna when Elsa accidentally hit her. F^&k, man! Shrimp, Wuss, and Ho's Disney movies get on my f^&kin' nerves!

I started approachin' him when he put his hands out, givin' up. "Please! All I was doing was delivering the stuff! I had nothing to do with-"

"Shut. The fuck. Up," I growled. I lifted Snakeskin by the collar of his shirt. "The f&*k are ya doin' anyway? Think this s^&t is cool? Think these sons o' bitches are ya bros?"

"Oh please God, it wasn't me!" he begged. Since I'm pretty tall, he was dangling off the ground.

"Ya think I give a f^&k. Run. Don't come back. Else I get nastier," I threatened, setting him back down.

He immediately ran off; smart guy. What I said was true, though; this s^&t ain't cool. I looked down at the drugs, gettin' ready to pick 'em up and take 'em to the local pussies in blue station-

*SPIDER SENSE TINGLING*

I whipped my head to the left and saw one o' the storage units; normally, I really wouldn't give a s&*t, but there was somethin' about that thing that just...drew me to it.

I walked toward it and punched a hole through the door and...dear Lord. Oh my f&*kin' God! W-what the hell?

Inside the storage unit was a pile o' dead bodies; children, women, little girls, men. Oh God! And the smell! It's like if a skunk was f&*kin' a sewer rat and sprayed everywhere. There was still fresh blood drippin' from the walls and caked everywhere. I had to hold back my gag reflex as I began walkin' away to call the cops.

But I stopped. I heard groaning. Weak groaning. I turned back around and pushed through the pile o' corpses to see who it was; it was a dark skinned little girl with black hair in a braid, and a tank top and shorts. She had blood all over her. She couldn't have been any older than nine or ten years old. I picked her up bridal style and whispered in her ear.

"Don't worry kid, I got ya," I told her. I placed the young girl over my shoulder and began swingin' to the nearest hospital.

Jesus. This is just like with Miles again. I'll get back to that later.

I'm the Scarlet Spider. Whoever killed those people in that storage unit and hurt this little girl: they're f&*kin' dead when I see 'em. Ya hear me? F&*kin'. Dead.

* * *

**As always, read and review. :)**


	18. The Hunt is On

**Parker Residence**

After what I saw last night, I didn't sleep. I couldn't sleep. S^&t, who in the hell would? Even right now, as I'm sittin' at the table eatin' breakfast with my siblin's, all I can see are those piles o' dead bodies, blood all over the f&*kin' walls, and that little girl I found. She don't know how lucky she is that I found her. I had taken her to the hospital and threatened the whole staff to take care of her or else. Found out her name is Aracely Penalba. Hey, I might not be the nicest son o' a bitch, but I got a soft spot for kids. No kids, hell, no one, should have to go through that type o' s#$t. It's up to me to find out whoever the f^&k did this and rip his (or her) f&*kin' guts out.

Damned Parker genes.

"Sheesh, dude, you look awful," I heard Wuss (Ben) comment. Yeah, well you're not Mr. Universe yourself, ya f&*kin' d&*kweed.

"Thanks for the compliment," I retorted. A^&hole.

"Hard day at work last night, Kaine?" Aunt May asked. This old lady, bless her heart. I can't find it in me to be mean to her; must be my Peter side comin' out or somethin'.

" 'S nothin', old lady," I replied. "I'm just tired."

"Seriously man, you look like you've seen a ghost," Shrimp (Peter) said.

"Not. Right. Now," I growled. I really wasn't in any kinda f^&kin' mood to be talkin' about last night. Not to them, at least. Why is it that people think that talkin' about bad s&*t somehow makes ya feel better? Whoever came up with that really needs to have a foot up their ass.

Preferably my foot.

I continued eatin' my food in silence; I gotta say, the old lady really knows how to whip up a meal. Chorizo eggs, my kinda grub.

I grabbed my wallet and walked out the door, but not before Shrimp followed me out. "What?" I growled.

"Spill it, Kaine," he said, his voice stern. But c'mon, ya think I'm f&*kin' scared o' him? Not one bit. But if I wanna to get him off my back, I guess I can humor him. I jerked my head to the backyard and he followed me there.

"So last night," I started. "I was just mindin' my own business, beatin' the s&*t outta some drug dealers in Brooklyn. All o' a sudden, I hear somethin' comin' from one o' the storage units."

"This can't be good," Shrimp commented. "I'm already getting the chills."

"It gets better. I open it up, and I see legions o' dead bodies all piled up. Blood everywhere. I thought that was it, but I hear someone and it turns out that one o' them was still alive." I sighed and ran a hand through my now grown out short hair; I gotta get another buzzcut. "Took her to the doctor. I gotta find out who did this to her."

"Lemme help," Shrimp said. "If we team up, we can probably find this sicko quicker."

"Nah, Pete," I refused. "You deal with the p&**&es in the dumb outfits. I was the one that found that girl, who found the bodies. I gotta be the one to find the f&*ker that did this. It's my responsibility."

"I'm guessing I can't talk you out of this, can I?" he said sarcastically. I'd punch him, but I don't have the energy for that.

"Not a chance."

Shrimp groaned at my short response. "Do you even know what the guy looks like?"

I thought back to when I took Aracely to the hospital; Christ, just thinkin' about it made me wanna hurl. No 'cause o' her, but to what happened to her.

"Wonderful. You got a great head start," Shrimp snarked. Gettin' closer to punchin' him. "It's a wild goose chase, Kaine. You know how many people live in just Queens alone? The whole five boroughs, you might as well not even bother."

"If that's what it takes," I snapped back. "I ain't stoppin' till I find the motherf^&*er. Ya wanna get in my way, you'll get some o' this too."

"Whoa! Why so confrontational?" Shrimp said, shocked. "It doesn't always have to be a fight with you."

I began walkin' away from Shrimp. "There's the thing," I called out to him. "It's always a fight."

"Try not to kill anybody," he yelled back. I shook my head at what he said; I make no promises.

* * *

**Brooklyn**

I stepped out of a convenience store, openin' up a pack o' cigarettes; it was a really good thing that my shifts at Luke's are usually at night. That way, I don't feel like an average f&*kin' workin' man. Besides, I ain't really a day person in general, but I got some s&*t I need to take care of.

I walked down the streets over to the hospital where I had taken Aracely the other night. Lookin' up at the place, I put my cigarette out and stomped on it; I soon entered the sterile, mostly white place.

If there's one thing I hate about hospitals, it's all the f&*kin' questions they ask ya, like "Are you family?" and s&*t like that; however, one harsh look made the receptionist lady reconsider her life choices and she let me through, no problem.

I went up to Aracely's room and saw the young girl hooked up to a machine; yeah, the sick f&*k that did this really left a number on her. Thankfully, she was awake.

"Uh, hey," I started off. I'm not too good at startin' conversation; well, at least not with kids.

Aracely looked up at me, confused. "Who are you?" she asked. She had a high pitched voice suited for a kid like her.

"Y'know that guy that brought ya here last night?" I started. "I'm his friend."

"Araña escarlata?" she said. Spanish.

"Yeah, the Scarlet Spider," I continued. "He sent me here to make sure ya ok? Where's ya parents?"

As soon as I mentioned the word 'parents', her face fell and it looked like she was about to cry. "No. No more," she mumbled.

"S^&t," I mumbled also. I cracked my knuckles; they was feelin' stiff. "Well, ya know who did this to ya? What he look like?"

Aracely gulped in fear and looked up at me. "He-he had r-red hair...gr-green eyes...and smiled a lot."

F*&k. Shrimp might be right; this is a wild goose chase. Millions o' guys look like that in New York. I don't even know where to start.

I thanked Aracely and told her that the Scarlet Spider was gonna get this guy for good.

I walked out o' the hospital, totally lost on what to do next.

S^&t.

Well, I guess I could start off in Manhattan. There's a lot o' bad guys there, obviously.

* * *

**No action in this chapter. Just Kaine getting a general description of who he's going after. There will be more action soon.**

**Read and Review.**


	19. Dead Ends

**Unknown Location**

Tonight's the night.

New York, New York. City that Never Sleeps. Gotham. All o' 'em are s&*&*y names. Well, except fer City that Never Sleeps. That part is unbelievably true. It's a city that's like a methhead on f^&kin' Mardi Gras; or one who on the Internet and just found out how his d&*k works. A city like this is bound to have its many dark sides. It's like a f^&kin' s&*thole that keeps festerin'; its pungent smell jus' cryin' out fer someone to pay attention to it.

That's where ah come in. Ah revel in s&*t like this; s'like home to me. Land o' the free, ah suppose.

Ah huffed and puffed on mah cigarette and smile; oh, y'all are gon' love to see what ah do in my free time. Exhiliratin', see what ah'm sayin'?

Ah put out mah cig and opened the door o' mah lil'...playhouse. Yeah. That's what ah'll call it. This is jus' one o' my lil' playhouses ah got all 'round this s&*thole these uppity city folk luh so much. F&*kin' a&*holes, the lot o' em. That's right. All o' em.

Ah turned on the light o' my lil' playhouse and look at a man tied up in a chair; He beat the f&*k up an' he's got that whole 'city accountant', mild-mannered thing goin' fer 'im. Guy y'all an' me, 'specially y'all, wouldn't even take a second glance at.

Poor sumbitch looked at me, scared outta his mind as ah picked up a machete that was near the door. Ah locked the door behind me, o' course. Hate havin' mah playtime in'errupted. It's only the right thing to do; yer mama ne'er taught y'all to lock doors behind y'all selves? Man, o' man, y'all f&*kin' people.

Ah slanked on o'er to 'im, a gleeful smile on my face; whoo doggie! This mah favorite part o' the ritual. Ah looked down at 'im an' he closed his eyes, tryin' to block me out.

"Yo!" Ah called to him. "Lookit me in my eyes!"

After a few seconds, the sumbitch did. Ah smiled wit' glee. "Now listen here, boy," ah started. "There ain't no talkin' yer way outta this, so I'm gon' lay down what ah'm 'bout to do to yer sorry ass." Ah lifted mah machete up to his neck. "First, ah'm gon' get to work on them hands an' feet. Then, ah'm gon' go fer them forearms and thighs. Maybe, jus' maybe, ah might cut out them intestines o' yers, jus' fer a good show."

"Don't hurt me!" he cried out. "Just let me go, huh?"

Ah narrowed my eyes at 'im. "But then we gon' miss out on all the fun. Ah like fun. Don'tcha like fun, boy?"

He didn't say s&*t the first time; looks like we got us a failure to communicate. So ah lifted mah machete up and sliced him on the shoulder, pretty damned close to that neck. "AH SAID DON'TCHA BOY?!"

"YEEES!" he said, obviously in pain.

"Les' git started, shall we?!" ah said. Ah quickly got to work an' did exactly what ah said ah was gon' do. Chopped off his hands, feet, arms, legs, but ah didn't get to work on them intestines. Nah, not tonight. Suppose ah gotta have some mercy.

Ah cut out his pretty lil' heart instead, laughin' the whole time. That was the best part. Aside from the blood gettin' all o'er the place.

Ah'm so sorry, where is mah southern hospitality? Ah'm Cletus f&*kin' Kasady, an' s&*t like this is what ah live fer. See y'all around soon.

* * *

**Harlem: Luke's Bar**

**Kaine's POV**

Dead ends. I keep runnin' into nothin' but dead ends.

Just earlier today, I came across every f*&kin' two bit s&*tbag I laid eyes on just to find out if they know anythin' 'bout a red headed motherf*&ker who goes around killin' people. Nothin'. Just a big ol' giant piece o' f&*kin' nothin'. I coulda gone to the cops, but this seems like somethin' the p*&^*es in blue wouldn't know s&*t about.

For f^&k's sake, can this night get any f^&kin' louder? Drunken idiots yellin' at each other, especially at me and Luke to get their f&*kin' swill really pisses me off. Of course, there's lots of s&*t that pisses me off and this is one of them.

"Alright! Alright! Calm the f&*k down!" I yelled out. "Now who got the f&*kin, uh...cog-nac sidecar?"

"It's cognac," Jail Muscles (Luke) said beside me. "And you know the rule, Kaine."

I rolled my eyes at Luke's little s&*t-eatin' grin and put a dollar bill into the swear jar. At least he pays well, know what I mean? "Ya just as bad as my old lady at home," I commented.

"Good. Somebody needs to straighten your ass out," Jail Muscles replied.

"Whoa! Ya said a bad word, jail muscles," I said. "Looks like ya gotta pay up."

"Nope. This my bar, I'm the one that makes the rules. And the rules clearly state that anyone else I catch swearing's gotta pay up, not me," he clarified.

Wise-ass.

I grumbled under my breath and handed one o' the f&*kin' idiots their swill. Don't even taste good. Except for a margarita; now that is my s&*t right there. Sour and bitter, just like me.

I started wipin' down the counters from all the booze spillin' on it, when Jail Muscles tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at the TV. I looked up to see that the news reported that another dead body was propped up on the side o' a Wall Street high rise. I narrowed my eyes at the sight, my spider-sense flarin' up.

"Sweet Christmas," Jail Muscles said. "Thing's starting to get serious around here."

"Yeah, I know," I replied. "Y'know they found a whole pile o' dead bodies in a storage unit in Brooklyn?"

"I heard it," Jail Muscles said, sighing. "Sick people in this world. I pray every day for everybody to be safe."

"Oh for f*&k's sake," a female voice said. I moved my head a little to see Lydia (Jessica Jones) in all her dark glory, drinkin' whiskey. Predictable. "You gonna sing me a tune of world peace, Luke?"

Jail Muscles rolled his eyes at her. "Always nice to see you, Jess."

"Hey Lydia Deetz," I greeted, intentionally gettin' her name wrong. I'm a nickname, it's in my blood. "Ya know anythin' about this?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be here, now would I?" she sniped back. "Dumbass. I'm a detective, what do you think?"

"Go f&*k yourself, that's what I think," I mumbled. I looked around her, but didn't see...her. "Yo? Where's Big Red?"

"Patsy?" she asked.

"No, the soda-o' course I mean her," I replied. "Y'know, ya not really a very sharp person."

"Looking for a fight, tough guy?" Lydia challenged. "I'm sure you don't want me to blacken the other eye. Besides, she's back at the office, taking care o' paperwork or something. Who gives a f&*k?"

"That was a lucky shot and ya know it. Oh, by the way: ya see a dentist for that missin' tooth, Miss Strange-and-Unusual?"

"I swear to f*&kin' God, I will chuck this bottle at you," Lydia seethed.

"Try me," I challenged. A few seconds later, she didn't do s&*t. Obviously. I'm a badass. Nobody f&*k's with me. Not even Bruce Lee.

My spider-sense flared up again, this time even stronger. I gotta go there. Gotta find out.

* * *

**Wall Street**

Cops were all suroundin' the place. I didn't wanna start no s*&t and have 'em all shootin' at me, so here I am, perched on top o' a high rise like us Spiders usually are.

Goddamn, I'm lookin' down at this scene, and whoever did this really went to f&kin' town on the poor dude; chopped him up from his legs, arms, hands, feet, and there was a hole in his chest. Christ, musta took the poor dude's heart out.

I know that I wasn't there to stop it, I know this. But for f&*k's sake, I'm only one dude, a badass one, and I can't be everywhere at once. I mean, who'd want that kinda pressure, y'know?

I can feel my spider-sense flaring up, even stronger than back at Luke's; in fact, it's so bad that it's givin' me a f&*kin' headache. I put my hand on my forehead to try and hold off the dull pain, and then all o' a sudden, it happens.

My eyes widen and I'm taken to some random buildin'; there's scared people all over the place, one kid's holdin' onto his mom, who just pissed herself. Ew. But the most interestin' sight is of the guy.

I can see him clearly; it's just like how Aracely described: red hair, green eyes, and a f&*kin' psycho killer smile. He's got somethin' strapped to his chest; it's...it's a f&*kin' bomb. Oh God.

I think I either haven't gotten enough sleep and I'm losin' my s&*t, or my spider-sense just gave me a look into the future. One thing's for sure though: I have no idea where to next. Can't find the son o' a bitch anywhere.

But maybe...nah, I couldn't. I got enough problems with Mr. Psycho-Killer Grin, I'm not sure if I can handle...her being on the same case. Should I, though?

I think back to the card that Big Red gave me when I first met her (and beat up her friend/sorta sister). Big Red's pretty hot, so that's one thing. Maybe that'll soften up the urge to beat the f&*k outta Lydia again.

There's gonna be some heavy s&*t goin' down soon. I'm gonna be ready for it.

* * *

**Sorry I didn't post this sooner, but I was dealing with a killer hangover.**

**Read and Review.**


	20. Kaine Gets a Lead

**Parker Residence**

**Kaine's POV**

It's early mornin' and I'm just sittin' on the roof, drinkin' a beer. Wanna know how much progress I made since last night? None, that's how much. Jesus f&*kin' Christ, those guys in all those f&*kin' cop movies make it look so easy to find a killer. I grit my teeth in frustration; the longer I can't find this guy, the more people he's probably killin'; most likely laughin' at me. Sick f&*k. I can still see his smug, ugly f&*kin' mug, laughin' at all those people in that buildin'.

"What's ya next move, Kaine?" I asked myself. F&*kin' hell, if I go two more days without findin' this f&*kin' c&*ks&*^er, I think I might just lose my mind.

I hear a thump from my left and see my...sister, I guess, sittin' next to me. "Hey there, Douchebag," she said.

"Hey Jess," I mumbled.

"Huh. Finally you use my name," she commented.

"Whaddya want, ho?" I growled out. "If this ain't important, I ain't interested."

"Just came up here to talk to you," she replied. "This whole thing about you finding a killer's really running you ragged."

"Tch, ya tellin' me," I snarked. "Know how long it's been since I got a good night's sleep?"

She rolled her eyes. "The red eyes give it away, bro."

I sighed and ran a hand through my head. Guess since she's here, I might as well say somethin'. "Last night, another dead guy was found on Wall Street."

"Something inside is telling me that a joke can be made about that," she said.

I sneered at her. "This ain't a joke, Jessica. After I saw that, my spider-sense was goin' off the charts. Then, all o' a sudden, I get this...vision."

"Vision?" she questioned. "You been getting those too?"

"Yeah. I saw this creepy lookin' motherf*&^er with a bomb strapped to his chest," I continued.

"Damn, dude," Ho said. "What're you gonna do?"

"I been tryin' to find this son o' a bitch, but I've gotten nowhere with this," I admitted.

"Maybe you're looking in the wrong place," Ho suggested, making me shake my head.

"I've looked in Brooklyn, some parts o' Queens, Manhattan. Nothin'."

"If you had someone to help you-"

"No," I said, cuttin' her off. "Just like I told shrimp, this is _my_ responsibility."

Ho huffed out and jumped from the roof. "Just because it's your responsibility doesn't mean that you gotta carry the weight of the world on your shoulders," she said.

Tch, what the f&*k does she know? Just like Shrimp and Wuss, she spends her time chasin' down f&*kheads in dumb outfits and flirtin' with two bit dominatrix crooks. She got no idea what kinda pressure I'm under to find this sick f&*k!

But I think back on the night I found all those dead bodies in that storage unit; I've been runnin' myself like hell and I still ain't found the guy. I mean, I know what he looks like in my vision, but I can't possibly go to the cops with this. Obviously they'd tell me to take my ass home. F&*kin' dumbass bitches in blue outfits, the lot o' 'em.

Groaning, I come to one final conclusion, that I really hate to say: maybe she's right. Maybe I can't find this guy on my own; who knows what would happen if I ran around tryin' to tell people 'Hey, I saw a guy in my vision, ya all in danger!'

I jumped down from the roof and searched around in the pocket o' my coat; I take out and look at that card that Big Red gave me.

__ALIAS INVESTIGATIONS__

__485 S. 46th St.__

__NEW YORK, NY 10036__

I scratched my beard as I looked at the address; on one hand, maybe I can't find this guy all by myself, but they can help.

On the other hand, I gotta deal with lil' miss Strange-and-Unusual the whole time.

F&*k it, I'll go. But if Lydia Deetz over there pisses me off, I swear to f&*kin' God...

* * *

**Alias Investigations**

**Noon**

Web swingin' over to this s&*thole was easier than I thought. When ya got a sign that says the name o' ya place just all out in the open, anyone can find ya. Wonder why they haven't moved yet. Eh, knowin' Lydia, maybe she's a-scratch that-she is a f*&kin' moron.

I crawled through the open window (see, she is a f&*kin' moron) and looked around the place; it looks just like those private eye offices ya see in those f&*kin' movies from the forties. Or set in the forties, same f*&kin' difference. This chick's really got a think for brown wood. Hehe, brown wood. See, I got a sense o' humor too-

*SPIDER SENSE TINGLING*

Even though I was distracted by my surroundin's, I raised my hand up and caught a fist from our lovely dark haired lady. "The f*&k did you get in here?!" Lydia asked, aggressive. She's like a f&*kin' pitbull.

I pushed her back with my free hand. "Look here, uh, Jonesy," I began, tryin' hard not to use my lil' nickname for her. "There's a killer I been tryin' to look for-"

"That explains everything," she replied sarcastically. "And don't call me Jonesy!"

"Lemme finish, alright?!" I said back. "If I don't get to him soon, there'll be even more dead bodies around here. I'm sure ya don't want that, now do ya?"

She continued scowlin' at me until she patted herself off. "I'm gonna take a good guess: storage unit, little girl that lived, dead guy on Wall Street."

I narrowed my eyes behind my mask. "Yeah. How'd ya know about the storage unit?"

"I'm a detective, dumbass," she replied derisively.

C'mon, Kaine. Don't lose ya s&^t, ya need her and Big Red's help.

"That I can see." I started pacing around her lil' office. "Nice digs ya got here, Lydia."

My eyes widen behind my mask.

F&*k.

I didn't mean for that to slip out.

She looked at me in confusion until it finally clicked for her. "A^&wipe?" she said, surprised.

"Goddammit," I mumbled. "I guess I can't hide it from ya, can I?"

"I told Patsy that secret identities were f&*king stupid," she commented. "I was right."

"He he he, yeah, yuck it up," I snarked. So close to punchin' her in the f&*kin' mouth. "Can we get back to what I was talkin' about? That'd be great."

At that moment, Big Red walked into the office; the moment she saw me, she went into a fightin' position. "Jessica?" she said, worried.

"Calm down, Pats. It's just the a&*hole from Luke's," she said, wavin' her hand.

Big Red looked at me in shock and awe. Who wouldn't, to be honest? I _am_ pretty badass, after all. I lifted up my mask in front o' her. "Hey there, Big Red," I greeted. Lydia over there snorted at the nickname.

"You're the Scarlet Spider?" she asked, her voice in awe.

"In the flesh," I replied. I shot a web to the left and yanked, bringin' a bottle o' Jack Daniel's straight to me. Catchin' it, I bring it to my lips and spat it out after tastin' it.

"The f*&k? Ya actually drink this?!" I exclaimed. "Tastes like dog piss!"

"Oh f&*k you, ya lightweight," Dark and Spooky said.

Big Red chuckled in disbelief. "I'm not even gonna lie, that is pretty damned amazing," she said.

"Meh," Jones said. Well, f&*k you then. Bitch.

"So what are you? Like, a Spider-Man or something?" Big Red asked.

Trust me lady, I ain't nothin' like my brother. Not even close.

"Anyways," I began again. "I been tryin' to hunt this f*&ker down, I can't do it all by myself, and that's where ya two lovely-well, Big Red and you come in."

Spooky over there crossed her arms and looked at Big Red, who started to walk closer toward me. Funny thing about that: she could _not_ stop starin' at my chest. It was almost adorable.

She looked up at me. "Just to make it clear, you've never seen what he looked like? Never ran into him or anything?"

I scratched the back o' my head. "Not exactly. I mean, alright, I've seen him, but not actually ran into him."

"That's a great f^&king explanation. Good job. Totally useful info," Lydia snarked.

"Jessica!" Big Red said, her tone warnin' Lydia. "So what happened, Kaine?"

"Ya do remember my name," I commented. "I...saw him in a vision o' mine. Before you say anything, I'm not crazy, I guess it's part o' my spider-sense."

"That doesn't make you sound like a f&*king head case at all, a^*wipe," Lydia insulted.

"He was, like, yay high," I began, making a height gesture. "Red hair, green eyes, a f&*kin' slasher killer smirk-"

"Wait! Didn't we come across somebody like that before, Jess?" Big Red said, turning toward Spooky.

Spooky rolled her eyes and walked around me. "We come across a lotta lowlife f*&kfaces, Patsy. Can't expect me to remember 'em all."

"No no no," Big Red said, moving over to a file cabinet. "He sounds kinda familiar."

Me and Spooky watched as Big Red looked through the middle drawer of the file cabinet; about a minute or two later, she pulled out a file and showed me a picture. "He looked like this, right?"

I looked at the picture, and yep! Perfect match!

"Yeah, that's the f&*ker," I confirmed.

"You're telling me you don't remember this guy, Jess?" Big Red questioned as she showed Spooky the picture.

"Cletus Kasady," she read.

I know this is a serious situation. I know this for a cold, hard fact.

But I couldn't help but chuckle at that name. "Cletus?" I said in disbelief. "We lookin' for a guy named 'Cletus'? Oh sweet f&*kin' Jesus. Cletus? Really? What? Do he got a partner named Jim Bob or somethin'?"

Spooky and Big Red kept lookin' at the picture. "Remember, Jess? Five years ago-"

"-he kidnapped a cop's daughter or something," Spooky finished. "Yeah. Kinda starting to come back to me a little bit."

"So ya two are gonna help me out or not?" I asked, impatient.

"Depends. How much you willing to pay, tough guy?" Spooky asked.

"Pay?" I repeated, confused.

"C'mon, being a detective's a job," Spooky started. "You didn't expect me to do this for free, did you?"

I gritted my teeth at her; I mean, what the f&*k, man? "I don't think ya understand how important this is. People's lives are possibly in danger 'cause o' this f&*khead. And money's all ya care about?!" I exclaimed, outraged.

"Girl's gotta eat and survive," Spooky replied.

I clenched my fists and huffed out at her. "Then you're a f&*kin' idiot. Ya shouldn't be doin' this type o' s&*t just to get cash, lady."

"Then why do you give a s&*t, huh?

"Ya tellin' me that if ya found a storage unit full o' dead bodies, and a scared lil' girl inside, that ya wouldn't do shit?" I challenged.

"Jess," Big Red rang up. "Maybe we should do this one for free."

"Oh, no f&*king way, Patsy," Lydia said. "We can barely afford to keep this s&*t going as it is. Now is not the time-"

"This time's an exception, Jessica!" Big Red cut her off, also sounding outraged. "A unit full of dead bodies, a little girl that's in the hospital, scared out of her mind. Does that not mean anything to you?!"

Listenin' to this, I'm kinda reminded of Peter and Ben; they're the types to try and say this kinda s&*t to me. And I hate to say this, but Spooky is...reminds me o' myself. Especially her whole demeanor and way o' speaking.

Spooky ignored Big Red and stared up at me. "I get it. You are young, you are powerful. I bet you think nothing can hurt you, right? I bet you feel f&*king invincible, helping those people. Well, you aren't. That's the thing. Nobody is. There is always someone, _something_, worse out there. And if you look for it, you will find it. Or it will find you."

"Hmm," I began, goin' into a thinkin' pose. "Lemme guess, this is what ya went through, huh? Yeah, I'm gonna give a resoundin' 'f*&k all that' to that whole speech." I cracked my stiff neck and continued. "No matter how much I don't like it, I got a...duty to do this. So that no more people get hurt. 'Cause when ya can do all the s^&t I can, and ya don't use it to help, bad s^&t happens."

I began to move back to the open window from which I entered; I turned back one more time. "When ya done feelin' sorry for ya self, feel free to gimme a hand. Thanks for the lead though, Big Red."

"Wait!" Big Red exclaimed before I went out the window. She moved toward me. "Listen, I know she can be kinda….rough sometimes, but I know Jessica's a good person."

"She's doin' a great job convincin' me. A plus," I snarked.

"I can still hear you, you f&*king s&*tsucker!" Spooky said.

"Jess, I'm not gonna let you piss this away," Big Red said, soundin' determined. She turned toward me. "We'd love to help."

"Oh, uh, thanks," I said; I was for sure thinkin' this was a waste o' time. "Lemme know if ya hear or see anythin'. I'll still be in Manhattan."

And with that, I jumped out o' the window, web swingin' away and leavin' them to their own devices.

That went much better than I thought. Now I got a name and a possible scenario that's gonna happen. Time to start askin' around for more info; startin' with the Big Blue P&*$y Brigade.

* * *

**Next chapter, it's going down as Kaine encounters Cletus Kasady. To iterate, no I don't hate Jessica Jones, but she can be incredibly abrasive.**

**Read and Review.**


	21. The Scarlet Spider Always Gets His Man

**I know it's been a few days, but I got hooked on that PS4 Spider-Man game. It's glorious as all hell!**

* * *

**Unknown Location**

**Cletus' POV**

Well, f^&k me in the ass an' call me Shirley, today is the day. Y'all know the day; the day when this s&*thole o' a city'll finally know what death feels like. An' ah ain't talkin' 'bout just hearin' it on some radio or readin' some news article. Nah. Ah mean feelin' it; feelin' Death's cold, unforgivin' touch. That moment when y'all are just inches away from it, and ya just...give in.

All them people from the other day know what it's like. But o' course, they are deceased, so it ain't like we can get their expert opinion on the subject.

Ah know what that feels like; I've known it all mah life. An' ah just wanna make sure every single one o' these oblivious sumbitches know too. Ah mean, look at 'em; totally f^&kin' ignorant. They jus' go on 'bout their lives in a complete bubble. They don't give a s^&t 'bout anything but themselves an' their mocha f^&kin' lattes an' what time they'll be able to go to work an' con some poor ol' bumf&*k outta their money. Workin' jobs they hate, buyin' s&*t they don't need, tryin' to impress motherf&*kers they don't like.

Ah take the bomb that ah crafted all special-like fer mah self an' strap it to mah chest. This mah lil' back-up plan, jus' in case it all goes to s&*t. Ah better pack me a few grenades, jus' fer safety precautions as they like to say.

Now ah'm jus' standin' here and wonderin': what place should ah hit up with my grand plan today. Hmm...ooh, ah got it! First National Bank o' NYC. The pinnacle o' f&*kin' money-grubbin' douchebags lookin' to cash in their little paychecks an' go on about their lives like it's nothin'. Jus' thinkin' 'bout it fills me with unbridled fury.

Jesus, Mary an' Joseph, ah hate people. Not jus' New Yorkers, although they all pompous, smug, thinkin' their s&*t don't stink bastards; I f&*kin' hate humanity. How we keep on' goin', keep on survivin', when really, their ain't no point. We all gotta die sometimes; we mortal. We born, then we die. Y'all might look at me as some kinda f&*kin', whaddya'll call me? Why yes: a deranged, psychopathic f&*k. Guilty as charged, ah suppose. We kill each other e'ry day, so ah don't know why so many people give a f&*k if I do it.

I smile at what ah envision doin' today. Let's jus' say, ah'm just speedin' up the natural process of us all dyin'. An' there ain't nobody that's gon stop me from See y'all around!

* * *

**Manhattan, Mid-Day**

**Kaine's POV**

I was wall-crawlin' up the side o' some buildin', holdin' a pack o' cigarettes in my left hand, which I then webbed to the side o' me. Man, it's kinda hard to do s&*t like this when ya gotta carry stuff in ya hands, y'know? What am I sayin', course ya don't know, ya all f&*kin' normies.

When I reached the top, I was greeted to the sight o' Spooky and Big Red, lookin' over across the way with binoculars. "Yo," I greeted.

"Took you long enough," Spooky grumbled.

"Had to go get me some cigarettes," I said. These things are good for ya; ya might call 'em f&*kin' cancer sticks, but I'd like to think that ya all full o' s&*t.

"Did you get my hot Cheetos?" Big Red asked, to which I shook my head.

"Ran out," I replied. "Sorry."

"Well, s^&t," she complained. I don't blame her, hot Cheetos are delicious.

"Ya think bein' on a stakeout would be more fun," I commented.

"What? Like in those cop movies?" Spooky said. "Get real, Parker."

"F&*k. You," I replied. This chick really can get on a guy's nerves.

"You sure this is the place, Tough Guy?" Spooky said. "We've been here for three hours now."

"It's gotta be, I just know it," I said. "It's the place in my vision I told ya about."

"My life used to be somewhat normal," Spooky said. "Someone asks me to stop or spy on some s^&thead, I do that, I get paid, then drink and sleep. Now I'm listening to crazy spider guys telling me about visions."

"It's not the worst thing we've come across, Jess," Big Red answered. "Remember the-the Purple Man?"

Probably for the first time ever, and I'm sure this don't happen to her very often, but I see Spooky f&*kin' shudder. "I'd rather not," she replied.

"Who's the Purple Man? Barney?" I snarked.

"None of your f&*king business, that's who he is!" Spooky snapped.

I decided to mess with her for a little bit; got nothin' better to do. "Wow. Ya scared o' Barney the Dinosaur? What, did he f*&kin' show up at a birthday party and freak ya out?"

Out o' nowhere, Big Red pushed me back a few inches. What the hell did I do? "Listen here," she hissed, a scowl now on her face. "You have no idea what that-that...sick sack o' s^*t did to her over there. I don't care how scary you think you are, you mess with her, you're messing with me!"

I just stared at her behind my mask; I thought she was supposed to be the nice one, but I guess we all got a fierce side. I sighed at what she said, however.

"Sheesh, I'm knockin' this whole team-up s&*t outta the park," I commented. "Fine. I'm sorry if I hurt Spooky and ya fee-fees. It's just...I ain't really good at this workin' together stuff."

"And that you're a f&*king prick," Spooky rang out.

"Zip it, Spooky! I'm talkin' to ya friend here!" I snapped. I turned back to Big Red. "If it's worth s^&t, it ain't gonna happen again."

"It better not," Big Red said, crossin' her arms.

"Ya a little hellcat," I replied. "Remind me not to get on ya bad side again."

"Damn straight," she retorted, a smile on her face. God, this chick is f&*kin' weird.

"Heads up, lovebirds. I'm seeing something," Spooky commented. Me and Big Red walked over to her to see what was goin' on. All o' a sudden-

*SPIDER-SENSE TINGLING*

I snatched the binoculars from Spooky and looked within the bank; ok, I see a guy with a...katana? Machete? It's too far to tell. Imma just say 'big ass kitchen knife.'

So there's a guy with a big ass kitchen knife holdin' some guy by the hair and-holy s^&t! I mean, that was kinda unexpected. Or expected from me-I dunno, my spider-sense visions are weird. But anyway, yeah, he just straight slit the poor bastards throat and blood was gettin' everywhere. People inside was panickin', then he moved over to grab some guy's arm and he...chopped his hand straight off.

This is lookin' like a Tarantino movie. Like Kill Bill or somethin'.

I handed Spooky back her binoculars and said "S&*t's gettin' crazy. I'm goin' in."

"Not without us," Big Red said.

"Uh-uh," I refused. "Ya two already did ya part, so why don't ya leave this to me, huh?"

"Uh, hey a%^wipe," Spooky began, "If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have even gotten that far! We're not done just yet. Besides, we were gonna go with you whether you liked it or not. You did ask us for help after all; we didn't come to you for s^&t!"

"We don't have time to argue!" Big Red shouted. "C'mon, Kaine!"

I gritted my teeth and huffed; she was right. "Both of ya! I'm gonna put ya in the ventilation shaft and ya crawl out the moment I give the signal? Ya f^&kin' got me?"

I hoisted both of 'em over my shoulders, web zipping across the street to the scene. This better go good.

* * *

**Inside the First National Bank of NY**

**No POV**

Cletus Kasady looked on in glee at the horror on the citizens' faces, who were all cowering before him inside the bank. "Aw, c'mon, y'all," the redheaded killer began, "why so glum? The party's only gettin' started!"

Cletus walked toward a young child, his machete firmly gripped in his hand. "Hey there, champ," he greeted. "Kinda cool, innit?"

When he got no response from the young boy, Cletus' face contorted in rage. "AH SAID COOL, INNIT?!" he roared, holding the machete up to the young boy's neck, who nodded in fear. The redhead laughed wildly.

"Look at all y'all sumbitches!" he said. "Scared s&*tless, all y'all. Y'all see freaky lil' green men, motherf&*kers wit shiny metal suits! An' it's the a^&hole with the blade that scares ya?! F&*k's wrong wit y'all?!"

The Scarlet Spider came crashing through the ceiling, hitting the ground in front of Cletus, who only kept his psychotic smile. "Well, lookit what we got here."

Scarlet Spider inched closer to the madman, who only 'tsked'. "Uh-uh-uh. We wouldn't wanna do that, now would we?" Cletus taunted, slightly lifting up his shirt and showing that he had a bomb strapped to himself.

"Ya Cletus Kasady?" Scarlet Spider questioned.

"Ah'm lots of things. That's only one o' 'em. Pleased to mee-WHO THE F&*K TOLD Y'ALL TO MOVE?!" the redhead shouted, pointing his machete at a mother and son who instantly froze.

"I know all about ya," Scarlet Spider said. The sounds of sirens were heard outside a few seconds later and Kaine turned to see the Boys in Blue start to surround the front of the place.

The two were now standing Mexican standoff style. "Didn't ya kidnap some cop's daughter five years ago?"

"Guilty as charged," Cletus replied. "In mah defense, that sumbitch had it comin'."

"O' course, ya a f&*kin' hayseed, southern-fried hick," the spider anti-hero said.

"Ya got a problem with that, city boy?" the madman replied.

"Only when it produces inbred f&*kheads like ya self."

Cletus narrowed his eyes at the remark; to Kaine's utter surprise, Cletus went into his pocket and threw a grenade to the outside of the building toward the police officers. "There we go," he remarked. "Got rid o' that lil' distraction."

Cletus dropped his machete and started inching closer to Kaine, who stepped back. _Almost,_ he thought to himself.

"Why?" Scarlet Spider said. "Why all those people in that storage unit? Wall Street? It don't make any sense!"

"I f&*kin' hate this world," Cletus admitted. "Most o' all, all the people inside it. Workin' jobs they hate, buyin' s^&t they don't need. Pisses me the ever-lovin' f&*k off. So I decided, 'why not?' Lemme show 'em what pain is. Lemme tell 'em about Death's sweet embrace. An' you? Ya just earned yerself a dance with the devil, boy. Ya ain't no spider, or a predator. Y'all a boy playin' dress up. Now, come on, f&*kstick! Let's go!"

Scarlet Spider gritted his teeth under his mask. "NOW!"

Jessica and Patsy dropped down from the ventilation shaft and confronted Cletus; the two women ganged up on him and Jessica punched him in his mouth, cracking his jaw. Patsy went in for a Krav Maga-esque grapple and ended up wrestling him down onto the floor, with her foot on his back and his arm twisted.

"All o' ya! Get the f&*k outta here!" Kaine told the scared hostages, who began to run out in droves.

Scarlet Spider moved toward the situation and unleashed his stinger from his right arm. "Hold him up," he growled.

Patsy looked at the stinger from Kaine's wrist. "What're you gonna do? Kill him?" she questioned.

"He deserves it," Scarlet Spider growled.

"Hang on, tough guy," Jessica Jones said. "I'm not in the business of killing people. Can't we just hand him over to the feds real quick?"

"So what? He can f*&kin' escape?" Kaine growled. "No. This is how it ends."

"Spider," Patsy began, "look at yourself. Do you really think that little girl you saw in the hospital, or the dead guys in that storage unit, or the Wall Street man, would like this?"

Kaine paused for a second as he thought of the image of Aracely; the terrified, fear stricken face was now staring up at him in a vision. After a few moments of silence, Kaine re-sheathed his stinger.

"Don't think this changes anythin'," he growled. "We caught him. Now get this pile o' dogs*&t outta here."

Kaine soon shot two webs and launched himself away from the building.

* * *

**Parker Residence**

**Night**

Peter, Ben, and Jessica were all huddled up in the living room, playing Mario Kart on Peter's Nintendo Switch. The three 'siblings' were all shouting and screaming in both joy (for Peter) and frustration (for Ben).

"Aw, come on!" Ben complained. "Why?!"

"You shouldn't have gotten first place, dude," Peter teased. "Perfect opportunity for a blue shell."

"Why is that even a thing anyway?" Jessica wondered.

"I don't know," Peter admitted. "I guess it's a dis-motivator for not winning."

"It's bulls&*t!" Ben whined. "I wanna rematch!"

"No, little brother," Jessica said, a smarmy grin on her face. "You were the one who said 'no rematches'."

The feud between the three was dissipated when Kaine walked in, cigarette in his lips and a pizza box in his hands. "There he is!" Ben greeted.

Kaine grunted in response and put the pizza on the table. He walked toward his younger 'siblings'. "What're ya idiots doin'?" he asked.

"Just some video games that Ben is pissy over 'cause he lost," Peter said.

"I did not lose! Peter cheated!" Ben said.

"Wuss," Kaine insulted. He then took a drag of his cigarette and looked around. "Where's the old lady?"

"Still at F.E.A.S.T.," Jessica answered.

"So, I heard about what happened earlier today," Peter began. "That was kinda anti-climactic."

"Honestly Pete, I don't even give a f&*k. I'm just glad it's over," Kaine admitted. " 'Fore I came back, I saw Aracely again. Told her that guy can't hurt her anymore."

"Good. You seem to have a way with kids," Ben observed. "Wouldn't expect that from a sourpuss douche like you."

"Ben, we all have our softer sides," Jessica said. "Even you."

"I'm just glad you didn't kill him," Peter said.

"Uh-huh. I know exactly where this is goin' and you can shove it, Shrimp," Kaine said. "Don't think this is gonna be a new Kaine or somethin'. If I see him again, I'll f*&kin' rip his guts out."

"As you probably would," Jessica said. "You're such a _nice_ guy, Kaine Parker."

Kaine smugly smirked at Jessica. "I know."

* * *

**End of Vol. 3**

* * *

**Post-Script Scene**

At night, in a dark alleyway, an old woman was being held up at gunpoint by five dirty men with crazed looks in their eyes. "C'mon, bitch!" one of them growled. "Gimme the f&*kin' purse!"

"No! No! Someone help! Help! PLEASE!" the old woman yelled.

The man cocked the gun. "Guess we gotta shut ya up," he said. Just as he was about to shoot the poor woman-

*THWIP*

A strand of web hit the gun and it pulled away; five more webs hit all the men and dragged them away from the old woman. The old woman turned around and watched as a white, black and blue figure flipped down and began fighting all five of the men at once; the figure moved like an acrobat while having the brutality of an MMA fighter, punching, kicking, and kneeing all the men until they were nothing but bloody, unconscious messes. The figure, whom she could see was also female and wearing a white hood, was holding up one of the men by the collar and shaking him.

"Don't ever let me catch you around here again! You hear me?!" she screamed, to which the man nodded fearfully. She finished him off by knocking him out with one hit.

She dropped him to the ground and web zipped up the wall of the alleyway, soon running up the wall and reaching the rooftop.

_Yes! Score one for Gwen Stacy!_ she thought to herself as she jumped from building to building.

* * *

**Read and Review.**


	22. Vol 4: Web of the Hooded Spider

**I should've posted this a day sooner, but that PS4 Spider-Man got me hooked. We begin now!**

* * *

**Manhattan: Flatiron District**

**Afternoon**

Spider-Man and the Hooded Spider, perched on the rooftop of the Flatiron Building, watched as a car literally dashed across the streets of New York, with 4 NYPD cars in hot pursuit.

"You up for a car chase, Ben?" Spider-Man asked.

"Heh, my pleasure," Hooded Spider said. _Man, I really gotta get a new name, _he thought to himself.

They both snagged their web lines on two of the NYPD cars and zipped themselves across the air onto the roof of the police car. From there they were able to take a good look on the situation. The thugs in the cars were repeatedly firing wild shots whenever they could. One of them actually hit the tire of the car in his front as it drifted out of control and hit a lamp post.

_"Well,"_ Ben thought, "_Time to crash this party."_

The Hooded Spider and Spider-Man aimed their web shooters at the robbers' car and zip lined themselves to its roof.

The robbers inside heard a loud thud on the roof.

"What are you waiting for? Check what is on the roof," one of them said

Spider-Man heard him and inwardly laughed as he tried to imagine what the robbers could have thought was on the roof. One arm carrying a gun came out of the passenger side window.

"Get a load of this, dude," Spider-Man said to his current partner.

He quickly snatched the gun out of the hand and pulled it until he heard a painful gasp from his victim. He let it go and jumped, only to drop on the windshield of the car. The terror on the robbers' faces was evident.

"Hey guys, even though it's not Halloween, wanna see a trick? Now you see me, now you don't." Spider-Man pushed on his web shooters hard to cover the windshield with his web.

"Now about that treat-"

*SPIDER SENSE TINGLING*

The Hooded Spider's eyes widened to see a masked thug get half out of the window to aim a shotgun at him and fire. As the shower of bullets neared him, time slowed down as he knew it and using his unbelievable reflexes bent his torso as the shells crossed over his body. With no one to drive the car, it sprinted out of control and he quickly shot another web line and snatched the gun out of the hands of the man.

The man was disoriented as he tried to throw a punch at him but missed by a mile and he pulled him out of the car and threw him in a dumpster. Inside the car another thug tried to make his way towards the driver's seat and control the car, keeping his gun ready for both spiders. Eventually, his masked head appeared and he tried to grasp the steering wheel.

The car turned as Spider-Man and the robber fought for control but suddenly Peter's spider sense kicked into overdrive too late as the robber pulled the gun out and shot him at point blank range.

Thankfully, he wasn't turned into Marvin from Pulp Fiction as the Hooded Spider grabbed him by the back of his shirt, making him shoot at the car's roof.

On a nudge from his sixth sense, Spider-Man saw that a wall was approaching fast towards the car. Quickly, the two jumped from the car high into the air and turned slowly in air to snag web lines to the car and using their superhuman strength, pulled it in the air, only before falling parallel to it as the car rose in the air and making a giant web all around the car to hold it.

Standing below the webbed car, the brothers admired the web job.

"Man, that was crazy, right?" the Hooded Spider said.

"Yeah. Thanks for saving me back there," Spider-Man said, clapping his brother on the shoulder.

"All in a day's work, sir. No need to thank me," the Hooded Spider replied in a cheesy superhero voice. He looked down at his hoodie and saw a sizable tear in it. "Aw, man! Not the hood!"

"May'll sew it back together when you show it to her," Peter said. "No big deal."

"It _is_ a big deal," Ben emphasized. "This is a part of me!"

"I think you're too attached to that thing. Might wanna take some meds for that," Peter joked. Ben pouted at the jab just as the two heard their stomachs rumbled.

"Damn," the younger Parker said. "Let's go grab something to eat right quick."

"Bro," Peter began. "Remember? It's roast beef day."

"Oh yeah, that's right," Ben said, snapping his fingers. "I knew I was forgetting something!"

Before the two spiders swung away, Peter pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the webbed up car. "I am getting so many likes and retweets for this!" he said cheerfully.

* * *

**Parker Residence: Queens**

**Afternoon**

With the exception of Kaine (who currently had a day shift), the newly grown Parker family were sitting around the table, eating roast beef for lunch. Ben was moving animatedly, his arms going wildly about.

"So then," he said, "this one guy pulls out a shotgun, right? But my spider sense kicked into overdrive and it was, like, time slowed down! It was so slow that I webbed that shotgun out his hands and tossed the poor sap in a dumpster!"

"Exhilarating," Jessica commented. "And I wasn't invited why?"

"Heh, w-I mean," Ben stammered, trying to answer the question. "Uh...it was Peter's idea?"

"Oh thanks for snitching on me, dude," Peter exclaimed. "I knew I could count on you. To answer that, Jess, I figured that me and Ben needed some more guy on guy time. Y'know how it is."

"What is it with guys needing guy on guy time?" Jessica wondered.

"That's a question I've asked myself for 23 years," May commented. "Maybe it's better if we don't find out."

"You just don't understand the brotherhood," Peter dismissed. "Right, Benny?"

"It is a secret society with many rules of conduct," Ben confirmed. "Only the manliest of men can enter."

"Last night, you came to me for killing a rat you found outside," Jessica deadpanned. "So manly, am I right?"

Ben turned red at what his sister said. "I-I-It was dark out and he had those piercing red eyes!" he defended. "And I wasn't scared, just startled."

"Whatever," Jessica replied, rolling her eyes.

Ben noticed a big moving van from outside of the window, with someone unloading boxes from it. "Who's moving in next to us, May?" he asked.

"Oh, it's my old friend from college, Anna Watson," May answered. "I hadn't seen her in a few years so it was a pleasant surprise."

"Didn't she used to come over here a lot to try and get your meat loaf recipe?" Peter wondered.

"Stupid idea, it's nasty," Jessica mumbled.

"What was that?" May challenged.

"Nothing," the spider-girl said quickly, stuffing her mouth with more roast beef.

"Damn right it was nothing."

"Looks like they could use some help," Ben said. "Anyone wanna come?"

"Me and Gwen got a big secret project were working on. Sciency stuff. Speaking of which, I gotta get going in a few minutes," Peter said.

"Jess?" Ben asked.

"Helping Aunt May sew your hoodie back up," the brunette said. "Honestly, you should just junk the thing and go all red."

"But that's boring!" Ben whined. "And dull. And uninspired. And cliché."

"Those all mean the same thing," Jessica pointed out, her eyebrow raised.

"...I knew that."

"Before I forget," May began, "Anna said that she got custody of her niece. You might wanna make her feel welcome in the neighborhood, Ben."

"You know me, Aunt May. I just wanna help," Ben said.

He finished what was left of his roast beef and headed outside. He looked at the person, whom he could now see was a red haired female in a white tank top and what looked like blue gym short-shorts carrying a box. _It can't be. Is it? _he thought to himself. He walked over to the moving van near the young woman.

"Uh, you need some help there?" Ben asked.

The young redhead put the box down near her steps and revealed her face. "Is it 'cause I'm a girl?" she said, crossing her arms.

"W-what? N-no no!" Ben denied. "I-I just...c'mon you looked like y-you could use some help an-and I-I-" The bleached blonde's stumbling rant was cut off by the sound of the redhead giggling.

"Dude, I'm just f^&king with you," she said.

"Right. That. Nice to see you again," he said.

"We've met before?" the girl said, confused.

"You don't remember me? From that one restaurant with the bomb omelets?" Ben said, hinting at the short time they spent together.

The girl looked at Ben for a few seconds before snapping her fingers and pointing at him. "Ben, right?"

"Yeah," he responded. "And you're...uh...it started with an 'M', right?"

"Weed."

"Mary Jane!" he said.

"Good work, there. You had to think a little," Mary Jane joked.

"I'm kinda good at doing that. Th-that doesn't mean I'm stupid or anything," he quickly defended.

"Dude, I didn't say a word," she said, holding her arms up in surrender.

"Wow, I didn't know you were gonna living next door to me," Ben said. "Still want me to help?"

Mary Jane nodded. "You can start by picking up this f&*king giant of a TV."

Ben smiled at her and she smiled back as he grabbed the HDTV from inside the van. He entered into her house and moved it to the middle of her living room. "There we go."

Ben looked around the living room, taking in the color and setting. "Nice place you got here, Red," he complimented.

"Is that my new nickname now?" she grunted out as she set another one of the boxes down.

"If you want," Ben replied, following Mary Jane out the door.

"It beats having two names," she said. "Overly long and complicated. I hate complicated. Makes my head hurt and my stomach turn."

"Sucks, huh?" Ben commented. "Hey! I think I got a nickname for you."

"Lay it on me, Benny," Mary Jane said.

"How 'bout...M.J.? Both the initials of your two names," he said.

"Hmm..." Mary Jane began. "I like it." She and Ben fist bumped. "Maybe I should change my band's name to the EmJays instead."

"What about me?" Ben wondered. "What's my awesome new nickname, huh?"

Mary Jane got into a thinking pose as she looked at Ben, who was trying hard not to stare at her legs in those short-shorts. After a few seconds, she came up with one word:

"Tiger."

* * *

**Here's the beginning of Ben's volume. And yes, I decided to go with BenxMJ; it's different. Don't worry, it's not like they instantly love each other now, I'm just trying to take it slow.**

**As always, read and review.**


	23. A Mysterious Stranger

**Parker Residence: Queens**

**Night**

Peter, Ben and Jessica were all situated in Peter's room, with the original Spider-Man sitting at his desk while Ben was on Peter's bed, looking at his newly repaired blue hoodie. He surveyed it with an intense gaze and he gripped it as if it were made of glass and would soon shatter into a million pieces. "Oh sweet hoodie, did you miss daddy?" Ben said out loud. "I promise you'll never get hurt again. This I swear!"

"Dude, Ben, shut up!" Peter complained. "I'm trying to finish up revising this webbing formula. There's gotta be a way to make this stuff last more than an hour."

"Let me see that," rang out Jessica, who was currently dangling from the ceiling via a web line. She descended and Peter gave his notes to her. After a few seconds, she handed it back, shaking her head. "Nada. You got me there, man."

"Besides, it works just fine, Petey," Ben reminded him. "I don't see any reason for you to try and improve it."

"And there's where we differ, my foolish younger brother," Peter said in a lecturing tone. "There's always room for improvement. No matter what it applies to."

"If you say so," the bleached blonde Parker replied. He looked at his wrist, which was splattered in his organic white webbing. "I could just give you some of my webbing and call it a day."

"No can do," Peter said, erasing something from his notebook. "Last time, too thick to shoot out."

"That's what she said," Ben joked, laughing at his own innuendo.

Peter and Jessica rolled their eyes at him. "Really?!" the two brunets exclaimed, to which Ben laughed harder.

"I-I-I couldn't resi-hi-hi-ist," Ben said, still laughing and holding his stomach.

"I gotta teach you some more sophisticated humor, dude," Peter said, shaking his head.

Ben wiped a tear from his eye as he stopped laughing. "Oh God. Oh man, that was good." He took a deep breath and changed the subject. "So, Petey," he began. "What's up with you and Gwendy?"

The brunet science enthusiast was getting ready to scold him for using that nickname until he stopped and realized something; _"Same memories as me,"_ he thought. "_Right."_

"Has she said or talked about how she's dealing with her little...condition?" Jessica asked, concern evident in her voice.

Peter waved off his sister's worry. "She's fine. If anything, she thinks it's the best thing that's happened to her. She took down a few guys not too long ago for trying to rob an old lady."

"Oooooh," Ben said. "So she is gonna be one of us someday. Cool!"

"Who said that?" Peter replied. "I'm not even sure if I should be helping her with this. I don't want her to get hurt. Or severely hurt someone else."

"Dude, she's not, like, a china doll or something," Ben pointed out. "And from what I can remember, even though I wasn't there, she was just fine with handling the Lizard guy-"

"-because I was guiding her every step of the way," Peter interrupted.

"Point is, you gotta learn to realize that she's all good. She can take care of a situation. You get it?" Jessica said.

"Tch, now you're beginning to sound like her," Peter snorted. "I dunno. We'll see. But enough about me, what about you, Ben? You were with that Mary Jane girl for a long time."

"Heh, oh, yeah, yeah," Ben said nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Sh-she's cool. Found out she's loves her some guitaring, indie rock, and has a major thing for ice cream. Although..."

* * *

**Flashback: 3 hours ago**

_Ben and the red haired girl were sitting in the center of her not-as-yet furnished room; MJ was playing her red electric guitar and Ben looked on, impressed with the slow tune she was playing._

_He would've liked it even more had one of her guitar strings not decided to break at that moment, making both the young man and woman flinch._

_"S^&t!" Ben exclaimed._

_Mary Jane only looked on in horror at the broken string. "Oh no," she whispered. "No no no..."_

_"Aw, dude, that sucks," Ben commented. "This ever happen before."_

_"Never!" MJ exclaimed. "I always take good care of this! It's my life! And now it's broken!" She lunged over to Ben and started shaking him by the shoulders. "WHAT AM I GONNA DO NOW?! MY LIFE IS RUIIIINED!" She then glomped Ben and started crying into his shoulder._

* * *

Peter and Jessica could only look in both shock and bemusement as Ben finished his short tale. "So, yeah, there was that."

"Wow. What a drama queen," Peter snarked.

"You said it, Pete" Jessica agreed.

"Other than that, she's cute-cool. I said cool," Ben corrected, hoping no one would notice his slip of the tongue.

"Look at that," Peter began. "We're starting to get more friends and hang out with people that's not us."

"B-but were a family," the bleached blonde said.

"Yeah, but we don't have to hang out 24/7," Jessica replied. "Could you imagine always being around Kaine of all people?"

Both Peter and Ben shuddered at the thought; as much as he was their brother, he could be quite standoffish, arrogant, and downright scary sometimes. "I'd rather not," Peter said. He looked down at his phone and saw that it was already 10:00 pm. "Damn. Ten already? Huh."

"Not my turn this time," Jessica exclaimed quickly.

"Ben," Peter said, looking at his aforementioned brother. "I think this is your time to look out for Manhattan."

The hoodie obsessed Parker gasped. "Really? Just on my own?" he asked.

Peter nodded. "Yup. Just remember, they're all counting on you out there."

Ben's face went serious as he heard that. "Right. I have a duty, nay, a responsibility to the people of NYC! To be a great hero! To ensure WORLD PEACE!" He went into the bathroom to change into his persona; after a couple of seconds, he re-emerged and jumped out of the window, using his web lines to propel himself throughout the streets.

"...Peter, I think you've created a monster," Jessica snarked.

"I really hope I don't regret this," the aforementioned brunet said, rubbing his head.

* * *

**Manhattan**

Ben, now Spider-Hood, sat perched on top of one of the many high rises in Manhattan, searching for any crime that might be in progress.

"It was a dark night. The hero-who-has-yet-to-get-a-good-name was vigilant in protecting the people of New York. It may seem like a chore sometimes, but God, does he love this city and the people in it," he narrated to himself. "But no matter how deep his love for adventure is, even he couldn't bear the long, hard, d&*k of boredom for much longer."

He looked down at the crowds of residents and tourists, minding their own business, going into shops, restaurants and descending into the subway tunnels. "He longed for action, but it seemed like none would come hi-"

*SPIDER-SENSE TINGLING*

Ben's faux-narration was put on hold as he felt that familiar tingling in the back of his head; he leapt from one building to another, trying to find what his spider-sense was leading him onto. "He could feel that familiar tingling in his head-his danger tingle!" Ben continued to narrate as he launched himself to the next building. He looked up to see a full moon over NYC.

"The hero looked at the moon and appreciated its beauty," he said. "It's nights like this that always put a smile on his face."

As he reached the next building, in East Harlem, his spider-sense became even stronger, directing him to look down at the ground; there was a shootout happening between the NYPD and some random thugs, with other residents getting caught in the crossfire.

Ben grinned behind his mask and dived down onto the scene, landing on one of the thugs and taking his gun. "Alright boys, playtime is over," he announced. "Now gimme your toys!"

"It's the Spider-Hood!" one of the thugs said. "Let's get that motherf^&*er!"

"It's not Spi-oh forget it!" Ben got into action; the first thug, a huge, fat but solidly built man, tried to use his size and muscle to bully around Ben; the more agile spider-ling slid between his legs and punched him into the air, yanking him back down with a web line.

Another thug tried shooting at Ben, but thanks to his spider-sense he webbed the gun out of his hands and cartwheel jumped over to him, picking up a nearby 2x4 and smacking him unconscious with it. He threw the rest of the broken 2x4 at another thug and webbed him to the wall of a building on the left.

One thug, who carried a whip, used it to lash at Ben, who caught in in time, to his detriment; the speed and strength of the whip on his forearm caused blood to be drawn and for Ben to cry out in pain. "GAAAAAHHH!" he screamed. As the spider-ling held his damaged arm, more thugs showed up unexpectedly in a white van. The thugs began pouring out in droves, all of them heavily armed.

Ben, using his other arm, webbed the whip out of the previous thug's hands and yanked the thug over to him, kicking him hard into the air. "Time for a nap," he joked, still wincing at the pain in his arms. He watched as all of the armed thugs began approaching both him and the police barricade when suddenly-

*POOF*

A hail of green mist erupted from the ground, revealing someone in a light green outfit, a cape, and what looked to be a glass helmet; what Ben thought was interesting was that despite the helmet being glass, he couldn't see the man's face.

The man raised his hands and oddly enough, all the weapons the thugs were carrying turned into rubber chickens and super soakers. "What the hell?!" one of the thugs exclaimed. "What kind of freak s&*t is this?!"

"Silence, evildoer!" the man in the glass helmet said. "Now you shall get yours!"

With a snap of his fingers, the man conjured up a cartoonishly large butterfly net and use it to capture all of the thugs in the shootout. He cocked his head to the left and a metal sliding door appeared over the top of the net, locking into place.

"Scum like you really should know your place," the strange man said. He looked at all the officers and the citizens who saw the sight. "Worry no more, people of East Harlem. You can now sleep at night without the worry of being killed! Now I must go!"

Hiding in an alleyway, Ben watched as the stranger began walking on top of air, turning the air below him into a yellow brick road; at the end of the road appeared to be a shining portal. "Just when the hero thought he saw everything," Ben narrated, "there were things that showed up just to prove him wrong."

He sighed and held onto his still bleeding arm. "This is turning out juuuust great, Benny boy," he self-deprecated. "Real nice."

* * *

**Try and guess who the villain of this arc will be.**

**As always, comment, like, or do whatever. I could use the feedback.**


	24. WTH, There's Two of Me!

**Midtown High: Queens**

**Noon**

Throughout out the crowded hallways of the typical high school, Peter, Gwen and Ned were walking and talking among each other. "Dude, are you serious?" Ned exclaimed.

"As a heart attack, Neddy," Peter answered. "And here I thought things couldn't get any stranger."

"There is that one guy in Greenwich Village if you wanna see weird," Gwen commented. "But honestly, a magical guy who can turn guns and knives into rubber chickens?"

"Don't forget about the big ass butterfly net," Ned added. The trio arrived at the outside courtyard, where multiple students either hung out by their cars, played card games, or fought among one another.

"Yeah, that too." Peter took out his phone and showed Ned and Gwen the picture taken of the stranger, who had a green outfit, a domed glass helmet and who wore a cape.

"Sick," Ned said with a grin, prompting both Peter and Gwen to look at him with shocked faces. "What? Don't stand there and tell me that doesn't look the slightest bit cool! I know you'd be lying."

"Kinda corny if you ask me," Gwen said. "Looks like something out of some f&*kin', like, fifties Z-movie or something."

"Ouch," Peter joked. "Not even B-movie, blondie?"

"Straight Z-movie, oh man o' mine," Gwen answered back. The two gazed at each other longingly for a few seconds until Ned cleared his throat loudly. "You ok, there, Neddy?" Gwen asked with a smarmy grin.

"Don't do that in front of me," Ned groaned. "It's not cute, it's disgustingly diabetic."

"Aww, Ned," Peter joked. "You're just mad 'cause Betty-"

"Peter!" Ned exclaimed, shushing his friend. "Not so loud, man."

"Come on, Ned, you know it's the truth."

Ned looked down at the ground, embarrassed. "...D-don't air all my business out on the street like that! Remember the bro code?"

Peter got into a thinking pose for a few seconds. "Hmm...don't remember that part. Maybe a quick refresher, huh?" The brunet and Gwen giggled at their mutual friend's expense.

"I-I like to keep that kinda thing private, you know?" Ned said. "It's getting really serious between us."

"Knowing Betty, she's the one who's thinking it's super serious and you're going along with it out of fear of her freaking out on you," Gwen aired out. "Whi~iiiped." Peter made a 'wa-ttch' sound, following the quip."

"Can we get back to the dude with the awesome cape?" Ned asked, desperate to change the subject.

"It is kinda unexpected," Peter said. "Ben basically told me how he just walked on air, and it turned into a yellow brick road."

"Were a pair of red shoes involved somehow? 'Cause he could go to any mall and find those," Gwen quipped. "What is he, gay or something?"

"Blondie!" "Gwen!" Both Peter and Ned exclaimed.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Oh, puh-lease! It's not like you weren't thinking it as well!"

"Anyways," Peter said, "if anything does pop up about this guy, I got Ben working the beat today. He'll know."

"I'm impressed there, bug-boy," Gwen started. "You actually used that term 'working the beat' correctly."

"I watch a lot of Lethal Weapon," he quipped.

"Um, Peter? They don't ever say that line in the movie," Ned oh-so helpfully pointed out.

"Thank you, Neddy. I-I really needed you to say that."

"Glad to help!"

* * *

**B41: Flatbush, Brooklyn**

**Afternoon**

Ben, clad in an all white T-shirt and blue jeans, leaned his head on the seat in front of him as he was riding the bus. _"What to do, what to do," _he thought to himself. _"The hero-with-no-good-name sat on the bus, desperate for some action. He should've figured that a dreary Wednesday in Brooklyn would have no crime for him to stop, but he was eager to get out anyway."_

The bleached blonde Parker looked out the window of the bus and took in the sight; he had obviously never been on this side of the borough, which to him, provided a change of scenery. "Nice trees," he whispered to himself as he watched the trees move past the boulevard.

_"The stranger from the other night plagued the hero's thoughts," _Ben internalized. _"Who was he? Where did he come from? How did he do all those magic tricks? But most importantly: how the hell did he pull off a purple cape without looking like a total moron?"_

Ben was prepared to doze off, feeling sleepy after his encounter in Manhattan, when the passenger in front of him's radio went off. "We're getting reports of an incident involving the Spider-Hood," the radio said. "He is currently at the Atlantic Terminal mall in Flatbush. Witnesses say-"

The man in front of him turned the radio channel, but that was all Ben needed. He called for the bus driver to stop and he quickly ran off, ducking in an alleyway to take his costumed persona out of his rucksack. "The hero's prayers were answered as a disturbance emerged," Ben continued to narrate. "Guess it's time for the hero to meet his evil doppelganger."

* * *

**Atlantic Terminal Mall: Flatbush, Brooklyn**

**Still Afternoon**

The Atlantic Terminal, one of the biggest malls in the Flatbush neighborhood, was in chaos; patrons screamed and ran as they saw the sight of the one known as the 'Spider-Hood' web swinging with a brown sack of random materials in his bag. The 'Spider-Hood' laughed as he watched the patrons flee in fear of him.

"That's right, pathetic normies! Run! Run as fast as you can from the Spider-Hood! HAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed as he webbed up one of the fleeing citizens. "No one can stop me!"

"I know you're not me! You don't even have my epic charm!" Ben, now in his persona, announced as he entered in with a swing kick. The doppelganger grunted as he hit the ground, dropping the brown bag, which was now revealed to have contained clothes, jewelry, and...video games?

"Oh s$^t, you got MK 11?!" Ben exclaimed in glee, picking the game up. "At least you got good taste. Too bad you won't get to play it behind bars!"

The doppelganger growled and lunged at the masked hero, who was caught off guard; the two of them crashed into the brass railings on the side of the escalator, and the doppelganger leapt off of him. Ben saw the double perched on a wall and went after him. However, it was fruitless as he phased right through the wall, landing on a hot dog vendor and covering him in water.

"Yecch," he said, disgusted. "I'm gonna need a shower after this one."

Ben turned to the left and saw the double waving mockingly at him; he flinched as he saw his double's head turn into the head of a six eyed goat. _'The f&*k?' _he thought to himself.

"Get back here, you! I-I mean, uh, me! Uh...oh forget it!" the true Hooded Spider exclaimed as he web swung after him. The two engaged in a short chase, filled with sharp turns, vaults over railings, leaping off walls in order to try and stop each other, and kicks and flips.

The double pushed Ben into a store window, shattering the glass and leaving Ben in a crumpled heap under racks of clothes. "At least I know where to go when I wanna pick up some new threads," he quipped as he recovered. Web swinging out of the clothes store, he watched as a green mist enveloped the area near the giant water fountain; as the mist cleared up, Ben saw the purple caped man floating into the air.

"Do not be afraid, citizens of Brooklyn! I'm here to help!" the man announced. "I, Mysterio, shall protect you from this monstrous cretin of society!"

The now-named Mysterio flew after the 'Spider-Hood' as Ben, now perched on the ceiling of the mall, watched. "The hero watched as the man from earlier appeared once more," he narrated. "The man had a knack for showing up in unconventional places, which only baffled the hero." Ben slunk away into the bathroom of the mall to change out of his persona.

Mysterio, flying back to where the giant water fountain was, held up the imitation spider in his arms. "At last!" he exclaimed. "I have captured this perpetrator of crime and shall bring him to justice!"

The rest of the audience in the mall, shut their eyes quickly as the 'Spider-Hood' emitted a bright, blinding white light, vanishing into thin air. Mysterio, staring at his hands in bewilderment, growled. "Damn it all!" he shouted. "He got away! But no matter! For I, the great Mysterio, am putting this Spider-Hood on notice! There's nowhere you can hide! shall bring you to justice, once and for all!"

The green suited man looked down at everyone else, who either didn't respond or gazed upon up with bemused faces. "Oh come on! Nothing?! Really?!" Mysterio complained. He made a 'tch' sound and shook his head. "Showmanship really is a dying art form. Oh well," he shrugged. "I best get on my way to stop the Spider-Hood!"

"Hold on a minute!" one member of the crowd said. The man was holding up a film camera, recording Mysterio's every move. The green suited stranger floated down to stand in front of the man.

"And what inquiries might you have, fellow citizen?" Mysterio asked.

"First off, name's Quentin, nice to meet ya!" he introduced. "Tell me, what can you do?"

"I was wondering when you'd ask." At that line, Mysterio seemingly took off his head and rolled it from one arm and shoulder to another, making everyone else gasp in both astonishment and horror. Ben, who joined the crowd a few seconds ago, looked on with a skeptical face.

"Looks like a cheap parlor trick," Ben commented.

"I guarantee you that I can defeat the Spider-Hood, Quentin," Mysterio assured, putting his head back on between his shoulders. "But I want you to be there to record it."

"Whoa!" Quentin said. "W-why me, Mr. Mysterio?"

The aforementioned figure chuckled. "You seem like a good man, Quentin. Unpretentious, dedicated, an understanding of my unique flair for the dramatic."

"It does seem like a good opportunity," the camera man said. "Ah, what the hell? I'll do it."

"Excellent," Mysterio said with glee. The green mist enveloped his body, leaving only his head, which turned into a basketball and bounced toward Ben. The bleached blonde caught the ball. "Don't drop the ball," Mysterio's voice echoed.

"What the hell?!" Ben exclaimed as he dropped the basketball; it bounced once more, turning back into Mysterio's glass helmet. In the air, Mysterio's helmet shot toward the ceiling, turning it into a projection of outer spaces, with stars, planets and galaxies included. The image then swirled around itself and turned back into the normal ceiling of the Atlantic Terminal Mall.

"Pretty cool, right everyone?" Quentin asked the freaked out crowd. No one gave a response and honestly, who could blame them?

* * *

**Parker Residence: Queens**

**Night**

Seven and a half hours.

That's how long Ben spent combing through Brooklyn in order to find any trace of his imposter; he looked all across Coney Island, Prospect Park, and God knows where else trying to find one lick of the fake ass 'Spider-Hood'. Who gave him that name anyway? Idiot YouTubers looking for views, that's who. He really needed two things: a new name, and a lead on his evil twin.

Not Kaine. The other one.

"Hold up, hold up," Jessica said, raising her hand for emphasis. "So you're telling me that you saw another you that had a six eyed goat's head on you're body?"

"Sis, I'm telling you straight! I swear to God. He waved, and then his head morphed," Ben said.

"Ya sure ya ain't losin' ya s%^t?" Kaine questioned. "If ya are, maybe we need to shack ya up in a f&*kin' wacko basket or somethin', huh?"

"Why doesn't anyone believe me?" Ben complained.

"So, this 'Mysterio' guy shows up, his head turned into a basketball, and then what else?" Peter said, wanting to know more.

Ben sighed as he continued to recount the story. "And then he made the ceiling turn into outer space!"

"This totally makes sense," Jessica said. "If you're drunk or high."

"Even if it all sounds a little far fetched," Peter began, "if you need any help trying to take down this evil version of you, we're always here to help."

"Especially me," Kaine added.

Ben raised an eyebrow at his oldest brother. "Wow, Kaine. That's...thoughtful."

"Hell yeah. It's s&*%#y enough havin' one o' ya here. If there's two, I gotta bash one o' ya faces in, y'know?"

"Gee, thanks Kaine. I know I can always count on you," Ben remarked sarcastically. "But no, Petey. This guy's gonna drag my name through the mud. I gotta be the one to take down...me, I guess? Yeah, let's call him 'Neb'. Y'know, Ben spelled backwards? It's my-"

"-Responsibility," Peter, Kaine and Jessica finished.

"That line really is catchy, isn't it?" Peter said.

"Ok, new rule: no one say that word for another week or two. It's getting really annoying," Jessica suggested.

"Ya said it, ho," Kaine agreed, to which Jessica punched him in the arm.

Ben got up from his seat in the living room. "I gotta clear my head."

"Another patrol?" Jessica asked.

"I know I said it's my job to take down Neb," Ben began. "But right now, I'm, ugh, I-I'm drained."

The bleached blonde young man walked outside to the front of his house. He ran his hand through his hair and huffed out, looking up at the sky._ "The hero was now stuck in a tight spot; he had no lead on his doppelganger and worried about how he was gonna catch him at all,"_ he narrated in his head.

"You're looking pretty worn out there, tiger," the voice of his new next door neighbor rang out. Ben looked over to see her leaning on the fence looking at him.

"Oh, hey Red," Ben said, walking over to her. "What's going on?"

Mary Jane shrugged. "Boring day at school. Hard homework. Just the daily grind of an all-American girl. What about you? How come I never see you at Midtown High?"

"Homeschooled," Ben said quickly. "I-I-uh, anxiety. Really bad."

"I couldn't tell," Mary Jane remarked. "But seriously, wanna talk about it? I got, like, one more hour before I hit the hay. Gotta be focused and ready."

"For what?" Ben asked.

"Me and the rest of the Mary Janes are gonna perform a set at Central Park," she replied. "A change from where we usually go."

"Lemme guess: coffeeshops? Dingy bars? Subway tunnels?"

"Our stuff is considered 'too artsy' for Starbucks, the one time we performed at a bar, Betty kicked a guy in the nuts and the cops got involved, and I hate subway tunnels," MJ listed. "Too hot."

"Probably because you're there," Ben whispered to himself.

"What was that?"

"N-nothing," the bleached blonde stammered, trying to cover himself.

"Enough about me, what about you?" MJ said.

Ben snorted. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Dude, just be real with me."

Ben sighed and looked into the redhead's eyes, wondering how he could phrase it without giving away his persona. "Uh, well, hmm...how can I put this? Tsk. Have you ever...God, it's so hard to say."

"Come on, I got another hour for you to figure it out," MJ reassured.

"Ok, how about this? Have you ever seen or felt something that just seems so fake, but so real, and it makes you wonder if you know the difference?"

MJ stared off into the distance as Ben said that sentence. "Once. I remember I was real little, me and Aunt Anna were in Manhattan one day, and we saw this guy, on a motorcycle, doing badass tricks. Like, Evel Knievel type s^&t. I looked at him, and his head...turned into this skull with flames on it. I told Aunt Anna but she said I was just seeing things."

"Yeah," Ben said. "Maybe I just had my little guy-on-the-motorcycle incident."

"Maybe so," MJ replied. "I haven't really talked about it much ever since then, till you brought up your thing."

"Oh. S&^t," Ben said. "Uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"It's ok. No worries," MJ said. "It's nice talking about stuff like that with you."

Ben smiled at the redhead, who smiled back. "Thanks. Glad I'm here to talk to."

"You should come by Central Park on Friday," MJ suggested. "Maybe it'll loosen you up so you won't be all moody and soul-searchy like right now, y'know?"

"I'd like that," Ben replied. "Sure. Friday. It's a date, then." As soon as those words came out, Ben turned red. "I-I-I mean, n-not a literal date, i-if you mean-"

Mary Jane giggled at Ben's flustered appearance. "Dude, it's cool. I know what you meant."

"Phew!" Ben said. "Ok, then. I'll be there."

"Sweet!"

_"And so the hero accepted the redhead's offer. But deep down, he knew something was about to pop off," _Ben narrated internally.

"You ever get high?" MJ asked suddenly, making Ben's eyes go wide.

"WHAT?!"

"It's a legitimate question!" the redhead defended. "Sooooo, have you?"

"You're one weird girl, Red," Ben commented.

"And you're easy to rile up, Tiger," MJ retorted with a smile.

* * *

**So now we get into Ben's volume even more. I have no idea how long I want this to last. Oh well.**

**As always, read and review! :)**


	25. An Unusual Discovery

**Parker Residence: Queens**

**Morning**

Ben's eyes fluttered open as he woke up from his spot on the floor of Peter's bedroom. He groaned and rubbed his head as he stood up, clad on only a white T-shirt and some boxers. He walked downstairs to see Peter, Kaine, Jessica and Aunt May sitting on the couch, with bowls of cereal in each of their hands.

"Mornin'," he greeted. Everyone looked at Ben and nodded at the greeting.

" 'Sup Wuss," Kaine said. Ben rolled his eyes and approached his family. He looked at the TV, which was set on the News Channel.

"Ben, I'm not so sure you're gonna like this," Jessica said, concern etched in her voice.

The Parker family watched as the news reported that the 'Spider-Hood' had struck again, only this time in Manhattan, robbing banks, assaulting random civilians, and caused a pile-up on the Williamsburg Bridge.

"No," Ben whispered in horror. "Oh God."

"Looks like your double struck again," Peter observed.

"Thanks for pointin' out the obvious there, Shrimp," Kaine sniped, making Peter flip the bird at him.

"Hush, you two!" Aunt May scolded, grabbing the remote to turn it up higher. As the news report continued, there was video footage of the stranger known as Mysterio battling the 'Spider-Hood', with the imposter getting away and Mysterio flying away in a huff. One of the news reporters approached a man with slicked-back hair, gaunt eyes, and a five o'clock shadow holding a film camera.

"Sir, what can you tell us about this Mysterio person?" the reporter asked.

"First off: name's Quentin Beck," he introduced with an award winning smile, which he soon replaced with a serious look. "And he's told me things. Like he's from another universe ravaged by war, and he was transported here in a last ditch attempt to save his world. Once he saw all the crime in this city, not to mention the 'Spider-Hood', he had to make a move. With all the things he can do and what we've seen in New York after the whole Chitauri Invasion, I'm inclined to believe him."

"Has he given you any proof?"

"His proof's in the pudding," Quentin said shortly before walking off screen.

The Parker family all looked at each other and especially at Ben, who only had an appearance of utter confusion. "Parallel universes?" the bleached blonde said.

"It's possible, right?" Jessica wondered.

"I'd like to think so," Peter said. "Ever heard of M-theory?"

"Uh-oh, nerd alert," Kaine snarked. "I am in no mood to be bored outta my f&*kin' mind right now, Shrimp."

"Guys!" Ben rang out. "None of this multi-dimensional nonsense matters right now! I'm just wondering whether or not I'm going insane."

"That's ridiculous, Ben!" Peter disagreed.

"Oh yeah? Where was I last night? Oh that's right! You don't know, since you were knocked out asleep, Petey!" Ben ran his hand through his dyed hair in frustration. "Maybe it is me. Maybe I'm, like, having a split personality breakdown and I only imagine there's another me."

"First off: take it easy there, Tyler. Maybe there's a reasonable explanation for all of this," Jessica posited. "Perhaps this other you is from the same place that this Mysterio guy claims he's from. Maybe he is telling the truth."

"I don't buy it for a second," May said.

"Ya sure sound certain, old lady," Kaine remarked, his eyebrow raised.

"They say the eyes are the gateway to the soul," May began. She paused the TV and gazed at Quentin Beck's face. "There's a...look in that guy's eyes that just doesn't seem right to me."

Ten minutes later, Peter was getting ready to go to school when he stopped in front of Ben, took something out of his pocket and gave it to him. "What's this?" Ben asked.

"The little project that me and Gwen were working on a few days ago," Peter replied. "It's a prototype earpiece communicator where no one can hack into its frequency, but we can hack into other frequencies."

"Cool cool," Ben said, examining the red and blue earpiece. "And I'm guessing blondie has one?"

"She'd have killed me if we didn't make her one," Peter said, prompting his brother to laugh. "No seriously, she said she was gonna beat me up if we didn't, and seeing how she is now-"

"-you don't wanna chance it," Ben finished. "Whipped."

"F^&k you," Peter retorted. "Anyways, there you go. Now you can talk to her until we make more of them."

"Ok, cool new gadget: check," the bleached blonde Parker said. The two heard May honk her horn, signaling Peter to walk out the front door, but not before he said:

"Whatever's going on out there, Ben, I'm hoping you don't screw it all up."

Ben watched as Peter and Aunt May drove away east to Midtown High. "The hero guessed it was time to get back on the beat to find the imposter," he narrated before he heard his stomach growl. "But not before getting some grub first."

* * *

**Manhattan: On top of the Lincoln Center**

**Late Afternoon**

Ben sat perched on one of the rooftop of the esteemed Lincoln Center. His search had not gone well; he found no sign of the imposter version of himself, and as he web swung across Manhattan, cops were shooting at him on sight and one of the bullets grazed his leg. "The hero knew his journey was gonna be made even more difficult thanks to his evil twin," he narrated to himself. "He just wasn't expecting NY's Finest and Bravest to be shooting at him. He didn't hold it against them though; they were just doing their jobs."

He scanned his eyes all across the streets and pinpointed any other locations as to where he could be and so far, nothing. "The hero cursed to himself! Where could he be? How can he elude him so? And why does his healing factor sting when it's working?!" he complained, gripping his leg, which mildly stung. He was glad he wasn't around his oldest brother, who'd tell him to 'man up and stop being such a lil wuss.' A%^hole.

Ben groaned as he contemplated on what to do next. "This borough is so big and numerous, it'd take days for me to scope out the whole island. And that's not even thinking about the cops who pretty much want me either in prison or my head on a pike. What now, Ben? What now?"

*BOOM*

*CRASH*

The youngest Parker sibling's enhanced hearing picked up the sounds of screams and crashes and swung off, ready to confront the trouble.

* * *

**Manhattan: Times Square**

**Late Afternoon**

Ben landed on the rooftop of one of the crowded hub's many rooftops, surveying the situation: it was the evil version of himself as he swung around, stealing from random shops and vendors, making the entire crowd of tourists and other residents scurry off in terror. "This guy isn't very creative," Ben noted as he perched on the edge of the rooftop. "It's just like back in Brooklyn. If this guy wanted to frame me, why not go all the way?" Normally, Ben would've gotten involved in all of this, but he decided to keep a low profile and scope out exactly what was going on with the 'Spider-Hood'.

The hoodie obsessed spider-ling narrowed his eyes as he saw green mist emerge from the air and out came the one named Mysterio, who flew around and shot green blasts at the imposter version of Ben. "Get back here, coward!" Mysterio yelled as he flew even faster through the Square, bobbing and weaving out of the way of many people in the crowd.

Ben jumped over to the next couple of rooftops to follow the action. "Whoa! This fishbowl guy is reckless!" he exclaimed. He witnessed both Mysterio and the imposter 'Spider-Hood' engaged in a close quarters fight in the air, and both of them were taking a nosedive. Mysterio righted himself up and tossed the Spider-Hood at the Jumbotron screen, breaking it and shattering it into pieces.

Ben's eyes widened as he saw random citizens move out of the way of the falling glass, save for a few people; Ben fired multiple web lines onto the back of those who did not move in time, approximately ten or eleven of them, and pulled them all back. It was all for naught, however, as Ben looked up to see the Jumbotron screen was still in tact and there was no glass on the ground. _"What the hell?"_ he internalized.

Ben had no time to ruminate on this as he saw the imposter 'Spider-Hood' swing right toward him; getting into a fighting stance, Ben was surprised to see the 'Spider-Hood'...phase right through him. The spider-ling's eyes widened as he turned around to see the fake running off and out of sight.

"This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder," he commented to himself. He perched back on to the edge of the rooftop and saw the glob of spider-silk that attached itself as the fake version of himself swung up top. He scraped some of it off and put it in his hoodie pocket. "I'm gonna see what makes you tick when I get back home," he whispered.

Just before Ben swung off, he saw Mysterio in the center of Times Square, floating a few feet off the ground. "Please don't be alarmed, citizens of New York," the fishbowl wearing being said. "He may have gotten away this time, but I promise you this: he will be brought down by my hands soon! Take notice of this announcement, Quentin!"

The cameraman, Quentin, moved his way through the crowd, his camera still aimed up at Mysterio. "Anything for you, Mr. Mysterio," he said, looking up at him.

"Now, now, Quentin," Mysterio chuckled. "No need for formalities. Just take this and send it to your nearest news station. Spider-Hood! Meet me at the Brooklyn Bridge tomorrow by sundown! We can settle this once and for all!"

Mysterio snapped his fingers and a bolt of lightning struck down to where we was, making the massive crowd shriek and cover their eyes; when they saw again, Mysterio was gone.

"Ok, that is kinda cool, I'll admit," Ben said. He looked up at the sky to see that there was not one stormy cloud or anything else that would've indicated a change in the climate pattern. "It's not even stormy out. And where's that Quentin guy?" he asked himself.

He shook his head and clicked his earpiece; a few seconds of static later, he heard a voice. "Hello?" came the voice of Gwen Stacy.

"Blondie, it's me," Ben announced.

"Man o' mine?" she wondered, making Ben chuckle.

"Close. A bit more handsome though," Ben bragged.

"Don't flatter yourself, Benny. What's up?"

"Majorly weird things are happening at Times Square," Ben replied. "You won't believe what I've seen."

"Probably the same thing I have. People are livestreaming this," Gwen said.

"Of course they are," Ben said, rolling his eyes. "Anyways, don't believe anything he said about me. Something real fishy is going on. I need you to check something for me. Where you at right now?"

"About to head over to MJ's in about an hour," Gwen answered.

"Oh s^&t, that's convenient. It's right next door to me and Petey. Anyways, there's some 'spider-silk' I found and I might need your help in analyzing it," Ben detailed.

"I'll be sure to be there before you are. That is, if you need my help," Gwen said.

"Cool cool. And there's some other stuff you might wanna hear about too," Ben said.

"Oh I bet," Gwen said, her tone indicating that she knew she was in for a mouthful. "See you then."

* * *

**Manhattan: Within Times Square**

**Late Afternoon**

All Mary Jane Watson wanted to do was to pick up some new clothes, maybe some hair dye, and to finally get her guitar string fixed. But did she achieve any of that? Well...the first thing, yeah, but the other things, nooooo. Then this a*^hole called 'Mysterion' (like in South Park?) or some s&*t had to come ruin it, along with that 'Spider-Hood' guy she's been hearing so much about.

When the two beings emerged and fought, she hid behind one of the garbage receptacles to try and shield herself from any incoming debris or stuff like that. She was surprised nonetheless when there was no damage from the battle that ensued.

"God, man, when did this place become a magnet for the 'freaky s^&t' Olympics," the redhead snarked, adjusting the guitar bag that she was carrying on her back. She wiped the seat from her brow and began to walk to the nearest subway station. As the girl walked, she tripped over something and nearly faceplanted onto the ground, stopping herself by getting back on balance.

Mary Jane growled and looked down at what she tripped over, which almost immediately stopped her initial frustration; it was some kind of white, silver and black piece of machinery that was about the size and width of a typical microwave. She picked it up and the logo on it read 'Property of Stark Industries.'

"Tch, figures," she mumbled. "Science companies always have a way of making things that go out of control." She looked all around the machine and saw a myriad of buttons and switches on it. "Once I get home, I'mma see what I'm working with right here."

She placed the object on the largest front pouch of her guitar bag, which still left most of it exposed and out in the open.

* * *

**Parker Residence: Queens**

**Sundown**

An hour and a half after the incident at Times Square, Ben and Gwen were in Peter's room; Ben was looking under the microscope and examining the 'spider-silk' found at the scene.

"What is it?" Gwen asked. "What do you see?"

"Take a look for yourself," Ben said. Gwen practically pushed him out of the way and looked under the microscope herself.

"Hmm...cellulose, cotton specifically, rubber cement, residue of cement thinner, and...hot glue?" Gwen replied, flabbergasted.

"Gwen, my webs are all organic. It's all me. You know what this means, right?" Ben questioned.

"That this other version of you is a fraud," Gwen answered.

"That might not be all." Ben ran his hands through his hair and sigh. "I've had three encounters with this Mysterio guy and two encounters with this fake version of me. The thing I noticed: not one time did my spider-sense ever go off around him or the fake me."

"What're you saying?" Gwen asked. "You think-"

"This guy's a fraud, blondie," Ben answered. "I just know it."

* * *

**Watson Residence: Queens**

**Sundown**

In her room, Mary Jane looked in complete shock as the device that she picked up from Times Square earlier in the day flickered and showed holographic images of the Spider with the blue hoodie making random poses, such as pretending he was shooting spider webs, fighting poses and other stances, and even one where his head turned into a goat's head with six eyes.

The only thing that the redhead could say in response to seeing this revelation was:

"Freaky..."

* * *

**Now Mysterio's secret has been revealed. Will the Spider-Hood exonerate himself? Keep reading and find out.**

**Make sure to R & R.**


	26. The Menace of Mysterio

Previously on Enter the Spider-Clan:

_"That might not be all." Ben ran his hands through his hair and sigh. "I've had three encounters with this Mysterio guy and two encounters with this fake version of me. The thing I noticed: not one time did my spider-sense ever go off around him or the fake me."_

_"What're you saying?" Gwen asked. "You think-"_

_"This guy's a fraud, blondie," Ben answered. "I just know it."_

* * *

_In her room, Mary Jane looked in complete shock as the device that she picked up from Times Square earlier in the day flickered and showed holographic images of the Spider with the blue hoodie making random poses, such as pretending he was shooting spider webs, fighting poses and other stances, and even one where his head turned into a goat's head with six eyes._

_The only thing that the redhead could say in response to seeing this revelation was:_

_"Freaky..."_

* * *

**Watson Residence: Basement**

**Night**

Mary Jane, along with her friends Gwen and Betty Brant (ok, it was actually spelled 'Brandt' but she took the 'd' out to not sound pretentious) stared in utter disbelief as the machine the redhead picked up displayed holographic images of Ben's costumed persona.

"Ok, what...the f&*k?" Gwen remarked.

"I-It's not gonna g-go on a rampage and kill us all, right?" Betty asked, wringing her hands frantically.

"I should hope not," Mary Jane replied. Gwen stepped toward the device and began to search through it, flipping it over and revealing a 'STARK INDUSTRIES' logo located on its back.

"Figures," the blonde commented, rolling her eyes. She dug down into the control panel and messed around with the wires and circuitry on the device. "AHA! Here it is!"

"Gwen, wh-what are you doing?" Betty asked.

"I'm interrogating it," she replied.

"The f&*k is it gonna tell you? 'I can't talk?!'" Mary Jane exclaimed.

"We'll never know until I ask, now will we." The redhead and Gwen's fellow blonde stared in shock as the device started floating in the air, playing even more unusual images of the so-called Spider-Hood laughing maniacally and holding up a bag of stolen goods.

"So all that time I heard about it on the news...he was never even really there," Mary Jane whispered loudly.

"All smoke and mirrors," Gwen continued on.

"Oh my God, girls! What if-what if this is some kind of plot by futuristic interdimensional aliens that wanna travel back in time, take over the world and harvest our flesh and feast on our bones?!" Betty rambled. "We're doomed I tell you! DOOOOOMED!"

Mary Jane grabbed Betty by the front of her shirt and slapped her in the face. "Get it together, Betty!" the redheaded rock star said. "This is no time to freak out! And you're making me scared!"

"This is the _perfect_ time to freak out, Mary!" the blonde replied.

"BOTH OF YOU STOP RIGHT NOW!" Gwen bellowed toward both of them. "This isn't helping the situation at all!" She sighed and huffed out a breath. "Now listen, what we're gonna do now is-"

"-take it to the cops and forget this ever happened?" Betty answered quickly.

"For once, I'm with little miss sunshine over here," Mary Jane said.

"No!" Gwen said. "We use this to help out the Spider-Hood guy. Doi!"

"You seem to have a thing with spider people, Stacy," the redhead commented. "First it's Spider-Man when the Lizard guy showed up, now it's the...one with the hoodie, I don't know his name. Is there something you're not telling us?"

"He-uh...he, um...trusts me?" the blonde said with a sheepish grin.

"There's something telling me that's not the whole truth, but for right now, good enough," Mary Jane said.

"He could think that we're the ones who are going around framing him and beat us all to an inch of our lives. You never know!" Betty said.

"Betty. Betty," Gwen soothed, grabbing her fellow blonde's hand. "Have you been taking your meds?"

Betty's eyes darted around as the question was asked. "Um...not since this morning."

"I suggest you get back to that ASAFP," Gwen advised. "And besides, have you seen those videos of B-I mean-him? He's one of the good guys. Just like Spider-Man. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

"I dunno, he beat up those convenience store robbers here in Queens pretty good," Mary Jane remarked.

"In his defense, they did have shotguns pointed at him," Gwen defended.

"If you say so."

"Look, all that matters right now is that you," Gwen started, pointing at Mary Jane. "Hide that thing from your Aunt Anna." She then pointed at Betty. "And you? You just need a good drink, pronto."

"I'm underage, Gwen," Betty replied.

"It's an expression," the blonde said, sighing.

"Alright, Mary Janes!" the redhead announced. "Here's the deal! Gwen: you go look for that other spider guy and tell him about what we found! Betty! Try, oh please try, to keep this to yourself!"

"What if my mom and dad ask around?" Betty asked in response.

"I don't know! Make up a lie or something?!"

Betty gasped in horror. "Lie?! I-I-I'm not good at that!"

"Then I suggest you get good at it!" Mary Jane exclaimed.

"Don't we have school tomorrow? How are we gonna get out of that?" Betty wondered.

"Dudette, we got the day off tomorrow? Remember?"

"I was mostly preoccupied with my trig homework," Betty admitted. "But right. Yeah. No school tomorrow."

"And what about yourself, Mary Jane?" Gwen wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm gonna stay here where it's safe and let you handle it," the redhead said. "I mean, all this s&*t, Gwen? Look, you deal in crazy, I don't."

"This whole thing needs all three of us on board, freckles," Gwen declared. "So grow a pair of t*ts already! Unless of course," Gwen smirked. "You're chicken."

*RECORD SCRATCH*

Mary Jane narrowed her eyes at the blonde drummer. "What did you just say?"

"Yeah, chicken," Gwen reiterated.

"Oh, uh-uh. Uh-uh," the redhead began. "First of all: nobody calls Mary Jane Watson a chicken! And second: there is no second."

"Good. We all on board?" Gwen said.

Mary Jane shook her head and began pacing around her basement. "Y'know, my life used to be normal, once upon a time. Can I go back to that?"

* * *

**At a Warehouse near the Manhattan Shoreline**

**Night**

Mysterio floated down from the rooftop into the pitch black warehouse, sighing. He clapped his hands and the lights came on, revealing the place to not be a warehouse but instead, a full fledged movie studio; it was complete with studio lighting, a set with animatronic sharks, a mechanical director's chair that can move up and down, and a camera dolly track. There was also an entire time of people present working in the studio.

"Good to be home," Mysterio said to himself. He cleared his throat and began yelling out. "Ok! Places people! We got s%^t to do! Gonna be a real busy day tomorrow!" Mysterio looked up to one of the crew members. "CHERYL?! Get this stupid helmet off me! Can barely even f&*king move around in this thing!"

"Right away, sir!" Cheryl said, scurrying over to him. She took off the plexiglass helmet and revealed the face of...Quentin Beck?

"Thank you so much! Phew!" Quentin said, removing the rest of his outfit and leaving him only in a black bodysuit. "That was killing me." The drones that flew around Quentin hummed and buzzed as they were being worked on.

"Has he taken the bait, Quentin?" one of his other crew members asked.

"We can only wait 'till tomorrow to find out, won't we Jake?" the huckster 'superhero' answered. "But let this be known: once we take care of the spider hoodie, then we move on to the rest of them! Then we, or to be more specific, I, will finally show New York, then the world, what a true superhero is supposed to be!"

Quentin paced around the set and looked at his whole team, his gaze becoming more intense and determined.

"Ever since the arrival of Spider-Man and the Spider-Hood, people around here have gotten the idea that true heroes are immature kids in stupid outfits! Well, what about the common man, like us? We're all disrespected, spat on, laughed at! Ignored! Take me for instance! My dream, my revolutionary illusion technology could've shaken the world! Limitless potential! Oh, but that f&*k Tony Stark had to turn it into his little therapy dog! He re-named my whole life's work BARF!"

The rage within Quentin boiled over as he picked up a film camera and threw it at the wall, smashing it into pieces. Jake ran over to pick it up, but was stopped by Quentin raising his hand.

"Leave it. We have more."

Quentin clenched his fist to try and calm himself. "And everyone else? You were all told that you were too unattractive to be actors and now you and I have to turn on a TV set, or a laptop, to see idiots who look like movie stars and rock gods play dress up and pretend to be someone their not! Well, I figured "Hey, I'm pretty good at that!

People around him cheered as Quentin continued on his mad soliloquy. "You can be the smartest man in the room, the most qualified, and nobody gives a s&*t unless you got a cape and can shoot lasers from your hands. We've got a guy in a cape right here!" he continued, pointing to himself. "This time, we get to be the superheroes! We get to be the movie stars and rock gods! No more of watching supermodels parade and prance around, thinking they're better than us!" Quentin grabbed a glass full of wine from a table and held it up. "I propose a toast," he continued. "To guys like us!"

"GUYS LIKE US!" everyone else repeated en masse.

"William!" Quentin called out, walking over to the man. "How's the illusions coming along?"

The aforementioned man, bald and wearing a white coat, fidgeted nervously. "Um...well, you see, Mr. Beck, we're missing one of the drones necessary."

Quentin's eye twitched and he chuckled at the proclamation. "I'm sorry, c-could you repeat that again?"

"I-I said-"

"I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID!" Quentin bellowed. "HOW CAN WE LOSE ONE OF THE DRONES?! GODDAMMIT, I BREAK MY F&*KING BACK FOR YOU AND ALL I GET IS S&*T EXCUSES! I F*&KING HATE YOU!"

"Quentin," his holographic doppelganger began, projecting from one of the drones. "These drones work just fine enough. We can maintain this. Make people think it's real. It's advanced enough."

Quentin growled and sighed. "Maybe you're right. Sorry, William." He looked toward everyone else who witnessed the outburst. "Sorry, everybody."

"Keep up the good work, Quentin," his holographic self said, giving a thumbs up.

"Thanks, my virtual reality self. I will!"

Quentin glared at William and pulled out a gun from his back. "Any more mistakes, I blow your head off. You got me? We cool? Yeah, we cool."

* * *

**Parker Residence**

**Afternoon**

Peter, Ben and Ned were all situated in Peter's room, looking at the laptop on the living room table. "Alrighty, then," Ned said as he typed. "STARK Industries, holograms, nope, drones-"

"-Click right there a sec," Peter said, noticing something off. Ned moved the mouse to click on the section called B.A.R.F.

"Did he seriously name something after puke?" Ben asked in disbelief.

"Mr. Stark's always quirky like that," Peter said. "Hope he doesn't end up naming a project S.H.I.T."

"I wouldn't put it past him, Peter," Ned replied. "Here we go: Binarily Augmented Retro Framing, a holographic illusion system meant to hijack the hippocampus and project limitless amounts of imagery. Primarily used for therapeutic purposes."

"So that's how he was able to turn guns into rubber chickens!" Ben exclaimed, making Peter and Ned sweat drop.

"That's what you were concerned about?" Peter questioned.

Ben laughed sheepishly. "It's a valid concern."

"Created by Tony Stark and Q.B.," Ned read. "Quarterback, huh? Nice to know football players can also be super geniuses," he snarked.

"No, no, click on that Q.B. name," Peter said. As soon as Ned brought up the information, the three looked over it.

"Quentin Beck, former engineer at Stark Industries..." Ben trailed off as he and the other two read over the information.

"Whoa, ok, this dude is straight certifiable," Ned commented.

"Yeah," Peter agreed. "Who the heck pulls a gun on someone all because they called you crazy?"

"Doesn't that kinda confirm it?" Ned stated.

"I guess some people lack self-awareness," Ben said. "Thank God Gwen called me the night before about this."

"You think this is your 'Mysterio'?" Peter asked Ben.

"I know it is. It all makes too much sense," Ben said. "I'm going to the Brooklyn Bridge."

"Um, dude," Ned began. "He said at sundown. He won't be there for another four hours."

"Damn, you're right," Ben said, dissuaded. "What do we do for four hours?"

"There's something else that I wanted to show you. And that I kinda need help with," Peter suggested. "It's a new type of webbing I've been experimenting with."

"Well, I don't really need help in that department, remember?" Ben said, pointing at his wrists.

"I know. You can spin web all by yourself and I can't. Lucky bastard," Peter complained, envious.

* * *

**The Brooklyn Bridge**

**Sundown**

Ben, clad in his superhero persona, swung over to the Brooklyn Bridge, where a massive entourage of citizens and photographers were there, snapping pictures of Mysterio's cloud filled entrance.

"Show off," Ben mumbled to himself. "And so, the hero swung toward his enemy, ready to take him down once and for all!"

When Ben arrived on the Bridge, those who witnessed his entrance began booing and even throwing things at him, which he luckily dodged thanks to his spider-sense. "Sheesh, what's next? Peasants with torches?" he mused sarcastically. He landed on the first arch of the bridge, crouched down like a spider as he landed.

"Yoohooo? Fishbowl?" he called out as he stood up. Mysterio floated toward him, moving back a few feet. "You looking for me?"

"Ah, you've arrived," Mysterio stated.

"You've already turned the people against me. Now you're gonna pay!" Ben said as he lunged toward him. Mysterio raised his hand and conjured up water bottle sized moths, who all flew around Ben and were knocking him off balance. Ben tried to fight off the giant moths, but was pushed back so far that he fell off the arch of the Bridge. He recovered by grabbing onto the wall with his sticky hands.

Mysterio looked down at the dangling Ben. "You brought this on yourself," he began. "I always did enjoy a good cliffhanger!" he joked, blasting at the arch and making rocks tumble toward Ben.

"Just another holo-trick," the spider-ling said. "I'm not falling fo-"

Ben was interrupted when the world around him began flickering into outer space, with giant strobe lights blinding his vision; when Ben could see again, he was struck by the incoming rocks and sent tumbling to the ground below. As he fell, he saw images of distorted mouths screaming bloody murder, waterfalls of vomit pouring into mixing bowls, sharks shaking palms trees until trains fell out of them, and giant hands giving the middle finger.

Ben finally stopped falling and hit the ground, groaning as he lay there. He got up and felt himself being propelled forward and watching as giant sized dirty diapers began falling from the sky. "What the hell is going on?!" he screamed as he ran to avoid the raining dirty diapers. The diapers soon turned into shards of glass, where reflections of Ben started to attack and pile on top of him. Ben managed to escape the pile-up and was left in pitch black darkness.

"Where the hell are you, Beck?!" he screamed out.

"You know my name. How pleasant," Mysterio's voice called out from all directions.

"Why? Why are you doing this?!"

"Oh, you'd like to know, wouldn't you? Maybe when you wake up and realize you're not meant for this, you'll see it my way."

Ben was confused until the imagery around him ceased, leaving him back in the real-

*POW*

Ben was sent flying after being struck by a car going around 70 mph on one of the rare empty streets of Manhattan.

"Ben? Ben?" the distorted voice of Gwen Stacy said through his earpiece. "Ben? Are you there?"

Mysterio grabbed the earpiece from the bleach blonde Parker's ear and spoke into it. "This is your new world defender speaking. How can I help you?"

"What happened to Ben, you sick f&*k?!" Gwen yelled from the other line.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Mysterio crushed the earpiece in his hand and took the unconscious body of Ben, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

**Stacy Residence**

Gwen was on edge after the voice of Mysterio spoke to her instead of Ben, and how the line went static-y afterwards. She grabbed her cell phone and called Ned.

"Hey Ned, it's Gwen. Can you hack into the traffic drones and find out where a floating guy in-oh you already know who he is? Good. Try to find out where he went by using the traffic cameras."

Gwen paced around her room, dialing the number of her bandmates. "Hello, Betty?" the blonde said. "Um...you up for a rescue mission? Mary Jane's coming too, of course! Yes, you should take your meds beforehand."

* * *

**Mysterio's Studio**

**Night**

Ben's eyes slowly opened as he groaned and found himself inside of a film studio. "The hell? Am I in Hollywood right now?" he questioned.

"No. I only wish," came the voice of Mysterio, which boomed from all around.

Ben ran around the set, trying to make sense of what was going on; he found Mysterio sitting in a chair at a computer. As he approached him, he took off his mask, which instead revealed the face of a werewolf-like creature. The creature lunged at Ben, who punched it so hard it's head ripped off and...sparked everywhere?

"I'm getting real sick of this fake s^&t, Beck!" Ben called out. Spotlights flashed upon him as though he was the center of attention.

"Some of it's fake, some of it's real. You decide which is which," Mysterio said ominously. "Ooh! I'll give you some help. When you disappear, it won't be fake!"

Ben felt the ground shift under him and spinning around, taking him along for the ride. "Hey, what is this? Some cheap carnival ride?" he derided. "Come on, the Shocker can come up with better tricks than this, pal!"

* * *

**Outside Mysterio's Studio**

**Night**

Gwen, Mary Jane and Betty all arrived at the outside of the studio, with Mary Jane and Betty armed to the teeth (or so they think). "F&*k, dude. Probably should've worn my black coat," Mary Jane commented, rubbing her arms to generate heat. "It's so cold, my nips are hard."

"We didn't need to know that, Mary," Betty said, disgusted.

"Oh come on, you're thinking it too!" the redhead retorted.

"You two!" Gwen snapped, making both girls look at her. "Enough! Now, are you ready for this?"

"Aluminum baseball bat: check!" Betty said, holding up said bat.

"Stun gun right here!" Gwen confirmed, sparking said stun gun.

To everyone's shock, Mary Jane pulled out a small pistol. "Holy s^&t!" Gwen exclaimed. "Where'd you get that?!"

"Eh, I swiped it from my Aunt Anna's safe when she wasn't around," Mary Jane explained, shrugging "We ready or what?"

"Let's do this!" And with that, the Mary Janes approached the studio, determined and unfettered.

* * *

Back inside the studio, Ben stopped being spun by the floor, leaving him feeling dizzy. "Now I know how the kids from 'The Sandlot' felt," he commented.

*SPIDER SENSE TINGLING*

"Why is my spider-sense going craz-" Ben was interrupted by the arrival of more werewolf creatures and zombies. He turned towards them and started fighting; he dodged a hit from the werewolf, sweep kicked the zombie, then grabbed the zombie and judo-flipped him into the werewolf, knocking both of them down.

"It feels like an Ed Wood movie," Ben joked. "Or maybe it's Roger Corman?"

"HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO THOSE TALENTLESS HACKS!" Mysterio roared out.

"Aww, did I strike a sensitive spot?" Ben mocked as he saw an animatronic T-Rex approach him. Ben web swung into the animatronic's mouth and fell into it's mechanical underbelly.

"If this were any other occasion, this would be f&*king awesome!" he admitted. "Just answer me this one question, fishbowl: why? Why do this? I mean, look at all this special effects stuff! You have a viable career here! Why waste your-"

"BECAUSE I WANT TO BE LIKE THEM!" Mysterio finally admitted. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LOOK UP TO YOU F*&KING SUPERPOWERED FREAKS OF NATURE! WELL GUESS WHAT?! NO MORE! NOW I GET TO BE THE HERO!"

Ben was rendered speechless by the admission; truth be told, he could understand the need to be a hero even better than this guy; no, no, it was different.

"You don't need to have superpowers to be a hero, Quentin," Ben said.

"Oh don't give me that 'anyone can be special' crap!" Mysterio derided. "It didn't work then, not gonna work now!"

More creatures began to emerge in the studio, all of them surrounding Ben; he was able to dodge most of their attacks thanks to his spider-sense, but the spider-ling was getting tired and would soon be overwhelmed.

"Say goodbye, Spider-Hoo-"

*BINK*

That was the sound of an aluminum bat hitting flesh as one of the creatures fell down in an unconscious heap. Ben looked to see Betty standing over the Medusa lady, tightly gripping the bat.

'_Is that Ned's girlfriend?!' _he internalized. He also looked to see Gwen Stacy dodging attacks from what looked like a vampire; he ran over to her and quickly punched the vampire in the face, sending it flying.

"Hey there! Long time, no see," Gwen quipped. "Heard you needed some help."

"I'm glad to see you, Gwe-I mean, citizen!" Ben corrected himself, not wanting to sound suspicious. He kicked away a little gobbling and saw Mary Jane pistol whipping a demonic looking figure in the face. He leapt over to her and quickly took care of the devil creature.

"Come here often?" he said, sly.

"Yeah, death traps by villains is totally romantic," Mary Jane snarked.

_"Smooth, Ben. Real smooth,'_ he derided himself. All the lights to the studio came on, showing even more demonic, fake looking beings and Mysterio himself, who floated down to the ground.

"Which one of us is the real one?" Mysterio bragged as he split himself off into multiple copies. "By the time you figure it out, it'll be too late!"

Ben's breaths quickened as he looked at all the Mysterio clones and looked at the Mary Janes, who were now struggling to hold off Mysterio's army of Z-movie monsters. "What do I do? What do I do?"

The spider-ling closed his eyes and felt the world around him come into better focus; his eyes still closed, he ran forward, sliding under the legs of a Frankenstein's monster, webbing a space alien to the wall, sweep kicking another werewolf, and vaulted off another vampire. He performed a roundhouse kick and heard a body fall to the ground. Opening his eyes, he saw a downed Mysterio.

"DAMN IT!" he yelled. "HOW?! HOW DO YOU DO THIS?!"

"A superhero never reveals his tricks, Beck," Ben quipped triumphantly. His spider-sense going off, he dodged a lunge from Quentin, who pulled out a knife in retaliation.

*BANG*

Quentin's eyes went wide and he screamed, falling to the ground and clutching his leg. Ben looked on in shock as he saw Mary Jane with her pistol smoking from the barrel.

_"Damn, this chick is unpredictable!'_ he thought to himself.

* * *

**Stay tuned for the epilogue.**

**Read and Review.**


	27. Ben Reilly Parker: The Scarlet Spider

The police came around ten minutes later to investigate what had occurred at the studio on the shoreline. These officers were greeted with the sight of a downed Quentin Beck clutching his bleeding gunshot wound to the leg, and numerous other members of his crew dressed up in silly Z-movie monster outfits, all unconscious or groaning in pain. "Someone help me! Please!" Quentin exclaimed. "I don't want him near me anymore!"

The officers on sight held Quentin up, placed the cuffs on him and shoved him in the backseat of the car.

Around 70 feet away from the warehouse, Gwen, Betty and Mary Jane were all speaking with Ben's persona. "So that's how you do it!" Betty said in wonder as she looked at his wrists.

"Yep. I don't wanna brag, but Spider-Man's not the only one who can do whatever a spider can," Ben bragged, shooting a web at another building. "I can even make a spider's nest if I wanted to. Neat, huh?"

"Exciting," Gwen commented, rolling her eyes. _"It's just like Peter sometimes," _she thought.

"Well, I can't thank all you lovely ladies enough for saving my bacon out there," he continued. "I surely thought I was a goner."

"Hey, no problem," Gwen said. "Not like we had much to do anyway."

Ben turned toward MJ, who was oddly silent and looking at her hands. "Something wrong, Miss?" he said, purposefully not using her name.

"I...I can't believe I just shot someone," the redhead whispered. "I just went for it, like there was something taking over me."

"You saved the Spider-Hood guy's life, Mary," Betty said.

"If you ask me, the guy deserved it," Gwen said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Ben said, putting his arms up in protest. "Don't say that! He might've been a villain who tried to kill me, but we can't think things like that. Otherwise, we're no different than them. We gotta be better than that."

"Am I seriously getting a lecture from a guy in tights and a hoodie?" Gwen wondered. "What is this, a comic book or something?!"

"Man, this is something, right? Who knew that before we were gonna play in Central Park, we'd be stopping a crazed supervillain?" Mary Jane commented.

"Besides, it's not like we're gonna be doing this all the time and then going home and crying in the shower out of pure stress, right?" Betty rambled, much to the shock of everyone else. "B-because I'm totally not gonna do that."

"Betty! Meds. Once you get home," Gwen ordered.

"Again, thanks for saving my life," Ben repeated, putting his hood up and getting ready to swing off.

"Wait!" MJ called out, running over to him. "Who are you?"

"You know who I am," Ben replied.

Mary Jane gave a look of confusion before she spoke up. "Not really. I mean, everyone calls you the Spider-Hood, so is that your name or something?"

"Hmm," Ben began, looking up at the sky. "There is one name I've thought about..."

"The Spectacular Bargain-Bin Spider?" Gwen offered sarcastically.

"That sounds terrific. Totally not insulting at all," Ben quipped back. "No. I was thinking...the Scarlet Spider."

"But doesn't one of you already have that name?" Betty asked.

Ben snorted. "It's not like it's copyrighted. So yeah, I'm the Scarlet Spider now! Sue me, other guy!" the newly minted Scarlet Spider announced, his voice cheerful.

"Are we still on for Central Park?" Gwen asked Betty and Mary Jane.

"After what happened tonight, that's a big no go for me," Betty answered. "God, Ned is gonna flip once he hears this."

"Don't lose hope. There's always Saturday," Mary Jane said, optimistic.

"Band, huh?" the Scarlet Spider said.

"Yup. Hey, um, can I talk to you over there for a sec?" Mary Jane asked the hoodie wearing spider, pointing to a parking lot. Ben nodded and looked to Gwen and Betty.

"You got rides to get back to your homes, right?"

Gwen and Betty nodded. "Don't worry, hoodie boy," Gwen remarked, taking out her cell phone. "Lyft exists for a reason."

The spider-ling nodded and Mary Jane dragged him over to the parking lot. The redhead let out a stammering breath as she rubbed her arms, freezing.

"Damn. It's cold as f*&k out here," she mumbled. "Um, Scarlet guy-"

"Scarlet Spider," he reiterated.

"Yeah. Um...is it t-too much trouble to, uh, ask for, um, a lift home?" Mary Jane asked nervously, to which the superhero didn't respond. "I know it sounds weird, but I don't have any Lyft money, and I don't wanna ask Gwen 'cause she's already got her hands full with Betty, and-"

"Sure, no problem," Scarlet Spider said without hesitation, stopping the redhead's rambling. "But why'd you need to drag me over here?"

"It's...it's silly, I just get so embarrassed asking for something like this, and I don't want my friends back there to think I'm some giggly little fangirl," she continued.

"Really? You don't seem the type," Scarlet Spider observed. "If anything, you seem like a total spitfire."

"And don't you forget it," she said. "B-but if you don't want to..."

The spider-ling cracked his neck and his shoulders and turned around. "Hop on."

Mary Jane nervously moved toward him and climbed on his back, blushing as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Cool threads, BTW," she commented. "Um, are you won't bump into anything?"

"Totes!" he said before he took off running and jumped, shooting out a web line and swinging away; as he swung from building to building, Mary Jane screamed into his ear.

"Yeah, I know! It's exciting, right!" he yelled.

Mary Jane looked down at the ground below her and saw the entirety of Manhattan, lit up and bustling; she felt the wind on her face and blowing her hair all around. She screamed even more and shut her eyes tightly as the Scarlet Spider performed a dive move and propelled himself back up with a web zip.

"Beats the hell out of taking the subway!" he quipped.

* * *

**Watson Residence: Backyard**

**The Next Morning**

"-and when we landed, I puked in the nearest trashcan and then made him take me to the nearest clothing store after I looked down at myself and...I'll let you take a wild guess."

Mary Jane sat on the swing in her backyard as Ben pushed her higher. The bleached blonde laughed as Mary Jane finished the story.

"Wow," he began. "That is just-I mean, goodness!"

"Oh shut up!" she exclaimed, her face turning as red as her hair. "I-it was so f&*king sudden, ok?!"

"Hey, happens to the best of us," Ben replied, still chuckling. "That must've been better than the rides at Coney Island, huh?"

"Yeah, it was something," Mary Jane replied. "I still don't know how I managed to sneak my Aunt Anna's gun back in her safe."

"It must feel good saving a superhero, huh?" Ben asked.

Mary Jane put her feet to the ground and stopped swinging. "It was so f*&king nerve-wracking. I almost froze up during all that. Guess that makes me a chicken, huh?"

Ben gripped Mary Jane's hands and looked into her eyes. "No. It doesn't. It makes you even more of a hero that you still went on. Remember, a hero shows no fear. A fool _knows_ no fear."

Mary Jane raised an eyebrow at him. "That's very wise of you, Benny boy. What fortune cookie did you get that from?"

"I didn't get it from a fortune cookie, Red," Ben replied. "I got it from Magic: the Gathering. Thank God for tabletop fantasy!"

"Quiet nerd or I'll take your lunch money," Mary Jane snarked, which made both her and Ben laugh.

"So, you and your band still on for Central Park?" Ben asked.

"In a few hours," she answered. "Then...you can have the honor of taking me out for lunch afterwards."

"Oh my God, you serious?" Ben exclaimed.

"Don't get too excited, there," Mary Jane retorted. "It's just lunchtime. I'm not that easy."

"I-I never said you were," he replied. "I-is that what y-you got from that?"

"Dude, I'm just f*&king with you," Mary Jane assured, a smile on her face. She got off the swing and started walking to the backdoor of her house. "By the way, that offer still stands about wanting to get high."

"You are a very weird girl, you know that?"

The redhead shrugged. "What's so weird about having a drug lab in my basement?" She opened the door, but not before turning around to look at Ben. "Catch you later, Tiger."

Ben hopped over the fence separating the Parkers and Watsons and entered through the backdoor of his house. "Huh," he said. "Stopped a trippy bad guy, got saved by three ladies, and now a lunch date-hangout-whatever-with Red. Seems like I'm not doing too bad."

"WUSS!" yelled the voice of an irate Kaine Parker. "What's this I hear 'bout ya callin' ya'self Scarlet Spider?!"

"Uh-oh."

* * *

**End of Vol.4**

* * *

**Post-Script Scene**

At the Stacy Residence, Gwen was currently in the nude, acknowledging herself in the mirror. Her arms were curved slightly, not straight and thin. Her stomach was flat, and tight, with definite six-pack definition. She pressed her index finger into her stomach testing her abs. Her stomach was definitely firm, and her arms were just sculpted perfectly for a female. She was muscularly toned and it was beautiful. She moved her arms in front of herself like a female body builder. She arched her right brow for a moment as she turned her body to the side and checked out her backside in the mirror. A giggle escaped her throat, as she liked what she saw. The impulse got the best of her and she slowly brought her hand over to her side testing the firmness in her buttocks.

"Damn," she commented. "That gas from the Spider-Queen bitch made me kinda sexy."

Gwen smacked one side of her buttocks and giggled more. "Holy s&^t, dude."

The blonde heard her phone vibrate and looked to see that it was a message from Peter that read:

DRUG DEAL HAPPENING TONIGHT. WANNA GO CRASH THIS PARTY? Lol.

Gwen smirked and looked at her Ghost Spider outfit that was hanging in her closet. "Oh hell yeah," she whispered to herself. "Time to show those a&*holes what I'm made of."

* * *

**Next volume is Gwen's volume as Ghost Spider.**

**As always, read and try to leave a review. It fuels my fire. :)**


	28. Vol 5: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Gwen

**Volume 5: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Gwen**

**Manhattan: Financial District**

**Day**

What up, what up? You already know what the deal is: I'm Gwen Stacy and welcome to the inner workings of my psyche...

…..oh come on! Nothing?! No gasps of surprise or anything. Well, s*^t. I guess since you're just reading about this, you can't really connect to it. Oh well, let's get this show on the road.

A while ago, my dork of a bug-boy and his newfound clo-I mean-siblings went up against this crazy bitch called the Spider-Queen. Seriously, why is it that a lot of super villains have delusions of grandeur? I guess you can say that superheroes have the same thing. After all, wouldn't it take a large ego for you to think that you would be better at enforcing the law than _actual_ law enforcement? Is it just me? Nah, it ain't just me.

Anyways, during the whole Spider-Queen drama, I (along with a lot of others) was hit with this gas that gave me spider powers just like Peter. I helped him out in owning that psycho bimbo, but even I'll admit that I was running on adrenaline. Fun fact: did you know that the formula for adrenaline is 1.283±0.06 g/cm^3? And that it's formula is nine carbon atoms, thirteen hydrogen atoms, and three nobelium atoms?

What was that? You don't give a f&^k? I figured.

So now, here I am, in broad daylight, in my white, black and purple hoodie costume (sue me, Ben! Jk, still love ya!) perched on one of the rooftops of a building, looking down at scene playing out: a bunch of dudes are running out of Romita bank and they're all headed off in some black, really f&*(in' s^%$#y getaway car; looks like a f^&*(n' 1985 Cadillac. All banged up and everything.

"Showtime, bitches," I said to myself. I launched off the edge of the rooftop and dived down, web swinging in order to gain more speed and catch up; why do these guys always have to run? They know I'm gonna catch 'em, so why bother? Is it pride? Fear?

Better be fear. I'm a straight rider! You don't wanna f&*k with Gwen Stacy! Hi-ya!

"HELLO NEW YORK!" I yelled out as I swung through the air. I want people to know about me; to look up at me in wonder and awe.

After a few web-swings (which I wished never ended because I like the feeling of wind on my face), I landed on top of the really bad getaway car. "Hi guys!" I greeted cheerfully, crawling over to the passenger side window. "Going to Atlantic City? Heard they got good casinos!"

"F&*k you!" the idiot in the passenger side said, pulling out a gun. Big mistake, buddy! I grabbed his arm and twisted it so bad it broke; then I webbed him up in a cocoon and attached him to a passing street lamp. F^&k you too, a&*hole!

I jumped to the other side and pulled the driver out, tossing him aside with no effort. Is he gonna be ok? Yeah, he'll be fine. No worries, Gwen.

I moved to the hood of the car, shot out two webs (thanks for the web shooters, Petey) and tensed myself against the momentum of the car, stopping it dead in its tracks. After all that, I moved to the back seat, ripped the door clean off the hinges, and grabbed the other two stooges; one of them tried to pull a gun on me, and I smirked behind my mask. I wanna try something real quick.

"Oh, is that a real gun," I mocked, putting feigned fear in my voice. "Oh heavens me! What am I, a helpless little woman gonna do about a tiny little baby d&*k gun?"

The two idiots looked at each other in complete confusion and that's when I struck: Peter made this new little gadget called a web bomb and I shot it at both of them. It landed and plastered the two of them together, sticking them face to face.

"Aww, look at the wittle lovebirds about to kiss," I taunted. I walked over to both of them, took out my cell phone, and did a picture with them. "Sweet! This is totally going on my Twitter!" I cheered. Yup, I got a Twitter. No, not as Gwen Stacy, but as Ghost Spider. C'mon, what do you think I am, stupid? Of course not.

*SPIDER-SENSE TINGLING*

I looked over to the side of me and saw the squad cars about to show up. "Yo, yo!" I called out. "It's the boys in blue here! Got 'em!"

"Hey you!" one of the boys in blue said. "Don't move!"

He's pointing a gun at me! At me?! What the-I was-I'm the one-y'know what? I'm gonna give myself an aneurysm right now with this. "You serious?!" I exclaimed.

"Take off the mask!" he continued.

I put my hands down in response. "Look, buddy. You don't seem to grasp the concept of the mask." I walked toward him to try and be friendly, but he shot at me. He straight f&*kin' shot at me! Can you believe this?!

Luckily, my handy spider reflexes allowed me to dodge it with ease; I flipped over and webbed the gun out of his hands. "I just did about eighty percent of your job, and this is the thanks I get?! Huh?!" I ranted. When I saw that another cop was getting out, I had to make a getaway; I used my web shooters to web zip myself out of that little pickle.

To be honest, having these superpowers is not good...

…...it's f&*kin' awesome! How can being a normal person be so much better than this, my dude?! Peter's always so mopey sometimes, but not me! This is a gift, and I'm inspired to use it to help people. Ever since my father died, the NYPD's performance has been going down slightly. Not to be offensive toward my Aunt Jeannie (ok, she's not really my aunt, but she was my dad's lieutenant and she was always cool), but her units have been going soft! There's too much crime in this city and I intend to stop it! As your friendly neighborhood Ghost Spider!

Wow. That was kinda corny.

"Aw f&*k!" I exclaimed as I launched myself toward another high rise. "Band practice is in fifteen minutes! Gahh, I'll never make it!"

* * *

**Forest Hills, Queens**

**Daytime**

Once I made it back to Queens (where I had to endure a long, awkward subway ride to get there), I ran like a bat outta hell to get to MJ's house. We usually practiced there because one: I don't have much space in my mom's moderately sized apartment, and two: the one time we went to Betty's, her mom pitched a bitch fit and we got banned from there. F&*k her too.

I reached MJ's garage, completely out of breath and my hair all frazzled up. I looked to see MJ herself talking on the phone, looking pretty angry and poor Betty's terrified expression. "You're a piece of s^&t!" MJ yelled. "I hope you f&*king get dysentery and s&*t yourself 'till you die! You s^&&*y piece of s&*t!"

Classic Mary Jane Watson: the lead singer and guitarist of our band. Fierce, but lovable. "Whoa! What's got your panties in a bunch, MJ?" I joked, trying to alleviate the situation.

I watched as she sighed, trying to calm herself down. "Where were you?" she replied. "Practice started, like, twenty minutes ago."

"Hey, I asked you first," I retorted.

"Well I asked you second," MJ said back. I rolled my eyes; real mature.

"Girls! Girls!" Betty said, trying to play peacemaker. "Please stop fighting!"

Good ol' Betty Brant (there's a 'd' there, but she doesn't wanna sound pretentious, she says): the bassist. Anxious and neurotic. She's such a mess, it's almost pathetic. But she's still cool. She has an older brother that my dad, before he died, put away. That was awkward, yeah, but we worked past it.

Me and MJ both sighed and decided not to stress Betty out even more. "So, who was that on the phone you were bitching out?" I asked.

"Eh, my dad," MJ said, shrugging. "You know how it is."

There is a ton of baggage with that response she gave me which can fill up a full blown novella, but the TL;DR version: MJ hates her dad. Probably her mom too. Girl got issues.

"What took so long, Gwen?" Betty asked. "You're usually on time for our sessions. Which I respect, I mean, after all: punctuality is key. Like me, I alwa-"

"Betty, you're starting to ramble," I reminded her. Now how can I answer the question of where I've been? Be honest, or lie about it?

Hmm...honest route: my friends bitch at me for keeping this from them and I feel like an a&*hole. Sure they might forgive me, but it'll totally be uneasy afterwards.

Lie route: no issues and we're still friends. Yeah, I'm going for that one. "Uh, held up at the subway. Crazies...doing crazy s^&t," I answered, hoping they buy it.

"Whatever," MJ dismissed. "So G-dog, you were saying something about a new song you wrote?"

"Yup," I answered, taking my notebook out of my bag. "Look at this. I know 'Face it Tiger' is good, but we gotta have at least two hit songs, am I right?"

MJ took the notebook and scanned it with her eyes. I just know she's gonna think it's gold. Usually, she writes songs, but I can bust out a catchy little jingle too. I'm more than just a drummer and a smart kid. I'm creative too, dammit!

"Betty, check this out," MJ said, walking over to my fellow blonde (we gotta stick together!). Betty looked over the lyrics alongside her.

" 'Does whatever a spider shall'?" Betty said.

"It was hard to find something that rhymed with gal," I rationalized.

"Radioactive blood?" MJ rang out. "Seems like a really nerdy song for us to do."

"What's so bad about that? Nerds have cool things too, you know!" I shot back, defensive.

MJ put her hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok," she appeased. "That's fine. But yeah, it's alright."

My face drooped down at hearing that. "Just alright?" I said.

"I'll see if we can do this. In the meantime: back to work, ladies," the redhead ordered. So we rocked out in her garage for a few hours; I gotta say, I'm really impressed by Betty's improvement in her bass playing. Sounds really good, helps keep all the rhythm together. MJ's hoping that she can get a record deal someday and become international.

Me on the other hand, this is just a hobby. My real passion is biology, as you probably already know. But I'm not a f&*kin' idiot; if someone offers me millions of dollars to be a drummer in a band, you best believe I'm gonna take it! 'Cause that's what I'll do.

* * *

**Edited this chapter because I have a different villain in mind.**


	29. Weirdest Drug Raid Ever

**Manhattan Waterfront**

**Night**

**No POV**

Gwen, currently in her Ghost Spider outfit, sat perched on the ledge of the rooftop about sixty feet away from her intended target: a warehouse where a good number of bikers and trucks were moving in. "Jeez, why is it always warehouses with these creeps? And the waterfront? Cliché," she stated to herself.

Ghost Spider heard a thump and turned to see Spiderman perched on the same ledge as her. "What the hell took so long?" she complained.

"Calm down, Gwendy, I'm here now," Spiderman dismissed, waving his hand away.

"You're twenty five minutes late! I thought you'd be here before me!"

"Well excuse me, princess! I had to take a dump."

Ghost Spider grimaced underneath her mask. "Ok, TMI, my dude. TMI."

"Hey, you wanted to know, so I told you. It's your fault you're disgusted," Spiderman retorted. "Anyways, here's the place. Looks like a get together for the newest generation of Hell's Angels or something."

Spiderman looked at Ghost Spider, who was silent in response. "What? I pay attention in history class," he snapped defensively.

"I didn't say anything," Ghost Spider replied. "Why so defensive?"

"No reason." Spiderman narrowed his eyes at the warehouse before them. "The anonymous tip never specified what kind of drugs it was, which already sounds fishy."

"Oh, who gives a s^&t. Cocaine, heroin, meth, all bad," Ghost Spider said. "Why don't we actually stop these guys right now instead of talking up here like a couple of jackasses, huh?"

Spiderman nodded. "Alright, here's the plan: we web zip to those two lamps up there and stay above these guys, giving us a good vantage point. Then, we can take them out stealthily and quick-"

The hero's planning was interrupted when he saw that his partner was no longer beside him. He looked down to see Ghost Spider coming off a web and walking calmly up to the warehouse lot full of bikers. Worried, Spiderman jumped down and was beside her.

"What are you doing?!" he whispered to her.

"Chillax, I got this. Just watch," Ghost Spider said, cockiness evident in her tone. Spiderman web zipped to a lamp post above while she walked up to the gathering, where all the bikers present looked at her in confusion.

"The f&*k is this bimbo?!" one of them said.

Ghost Spider's eyes narrowed behind her mask as she shot out a web, pulled the biker toward her, and laid him out with one punch. "Listen up you c&*ksuckers!" she began. "A little birdie told me some...naughty things were goin' on around here! The drug kind. And you're all gonna stop this, right f&*kin' now! Otherwise, you'll end up like this poor f&*k here lyin' on the ground." She looked at the man on the ground in disgust.

Spiderman watched as he other bikers took out knives and guns and began walking toward her. "Uh-oh. This is going south," he commented.

Ghost Spider on the other hand, smirked and got into a fighting stance. "Bring it on, p^&*$es!" she taunted.

The gang all lunged toward her, making Spiderman jump into action; he leapt down and landed on a bulky guy with a lot of muscles and twisted his arm. The man screamed in pain and Spiderman threw him toward the truck, knocking him out.

Ghost Spider shot out a web onto one of the motorcycles and threw it at the nearest group of bikers, sending them flying back and wrecking the bike in the process. Her spider-sense alerted her to the presence of one man behind her, who clocked her in the face and sent her a few feet back. She gave him a 'bring it' gesture and he lunged toward her; she ducked underneath his legs and gave him a punch to the groin. She proceeded to grab him by the collar and throw him into two other bad guys. "Strike!" she quipped.

Spiderman, meanwhile, was dodging gunshots from one of the men who held a shotgun in his hand. "Hey buddy!" Spiderman said. "You must really suck at Call of Duty, don't cha? I'll even give you my gamer tag so I can kick your ass there, too!"

"F^&k you, bug," the shotgun wielding man said.

"No you!" Spiderman retorted as he propelled himself from the wall of the warehouse and dived toward the man, knocking him out with a punch to the throat. "And by the way, spiders are ARACHNIDS FOR F%^K'S SAKE!"

Ghost Spider was currently perched on the lamp post above, looking down at one of the bad guys. "You can't catch me, you can't catch me! Nanny nanny nanny!" she taunted in sing-song. She jumped down in front of the man. "Tell you what: I'll give you a free shot, right here. Unless of course, you're scared."

The man made the foolish decision to try and punch at Ghost Spider, to which she grabbed the man's arm, threw him over her, and put one foot on his back. She twisted his arm so much that an audible snap was heard. Afterwards, she kicked the downed man in the face. "P%^&y," she insulted.

"It's been fun, but playtime's over," Spiderman said; he then jumped into the air and let out a torrent of webs, hitting all of the bikers and sticking them to the ground, to the lamp post or walls of the warehouse, or cocooning them, leaving them immobile.

"Aw, I wanted to play with my new friends some more, bug-boy," Ghost Spider joked. She then pumped her hands into the air and began doing a victory dance. "Oh yeah! Go Ghost Spider! You the s&*t!"

"Are you seriously flossing right now?" Spiderman asked in disbelief. "You know that's a dead meme, right?"

"_You're_ a dead meme!" the spider-girl retorted, still flossing.

"Please stop," Spiderman requested, groaning and facepalming. "You-you're making this really-you're making this a cringe compilation. Let's just see what's in here."

Ghost Spider deflated and walked over to Spiderman; she pulled his mask up and hers up also, fiercely making out with him.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Spiderman said in between kisses. "Hey frisky! Can we start the lovemaking after we find out what kinda drugs they have?"

"Fine, whatever." The two of them opened the back of the truck, seeing a group of yellow barrels.

"Looks like drug pushers nowadays are really starting to up their game," Spiderman said. "Used to be suitcases-"

"-or even airplanes of it. Now it's just barrels. Yeah, total upgrade," Ghost Spider snarked, rolling her eyes. "Anyways, let's-"

*SPIDER SENSE TINGLING*

Spiderman moved away from the barrels and looked in front of the truck to see one of the formerly downed bikers put an inhaler to his mouth; his eyes widened as he saw the man's eyes go black, his skin go pale, and bulk up a little bit.

"Look out!" Spiderman called out, alerting Ghost Spider; however, it was too late as the drugged out man grabbed her and threw her onto the pavement, pinning her down and laying punch after punch on her. Spiderman webbed the man and threw him away from her.

"You ok?!" the web-slinger asked, frantic.

"Never been better." Spiderman ran toward the enhanced biker, who ripped off a stop sign post and swung it at him.

"I know it's good to remind people about traffic laws, but this is f&*kin' ridiculous!" he quipped. After dodging the makeshift weapon, he jumped up to punch his head, but to his surprise, punching the man's head hurt. He gripped his hand in pain and the man grabbed him and threw him elsewhere.

Ghost Spider leapt into the conflict and tried to restrain him with her webs; it was all for naught as it seemed like they were doing nothing to keep him still. The enhanced man yanked on the webs and brought Ghost Spider toward him. He grabbed her neck and held her up, squeezing hard as he did so. She struggled in his grasp, clasping her hands onto his forearm. _'Let go, let_ go!" she internalized.

Still grasping onto his forearm, she started pulling her hands in opposite directions; the tension from the movement began building up until-

*CRUNCH*

The man dropped Ghost Spider, who was now gasping for breath, and screamed in agony. Recovering, the mostly white clad spider tore off the grill of one of the motorcycles and hit the strengthened man with it, knocking him down. She continued hitting the man with the grill, her hits intensifying alongside her rage.

"Motherf^&*er!" she yelled as she continued laying into him. It wasn't until Spiderman grabbed her by the waist that she was distracted.

"Stop! Stop, he's down!" he yelled. Ghost Spider, still huffing and puffing, stopped her assault and threw the grill of the motorcycle down next to the now unconscious man.

Spiderman jogged over to where the man dropped his inhaler before he 'hulked' out, so to speak. He jogged over to Ghost Spider, grabbed his girlfriend's waist, and web swung away from the warehouse and onto a rooftop inland of Manhattan.

"Son of a bitch almost killed me!" Ghost Spider said. "What the hell was that all about?"

"I could ask the same about you," Spiderman started. "You just flew into a rage back there, Gwendy."

"Adrenaline, and he was giving me a s&*t-eating grin," she replied. "I think...it looked like it!"

Spiderman held up the inhaler. "I think this is gonna give us some answers about what kinda drugs these guys were selling."

"They're the middleman, Petey," Ghost Spider said. "I severely doubt they were smart enough to cook up something that made that guy back there...stronger."

"You're right," he answered. "I'll analyze this tomorrow. See what I can find." He webbed the inhaler to his side. "But we need to talk about earlier. What the hell, man?! I had a plan that was perfect!"

"I don't do stealth, man o' mine," Ghost Spider retorted. "It's better to confront these s&*tbags head on."

"Yeah, and almost get yourself killed!" Spiderman said.

"Oh what's the big deal? We both made it out alive. You really think those guys could've taken us? We have superpowers, for God's sake," Ghost Spider retorted.

"I just want you to be more careful, next time," Spiderman said, his voice worried.

"I'll be fine," his girlfriend reassured. "Besides, nothing like a good healing factor to fix me up through the night, right?"

"It doesn't always work like that," Spiderman replied. "And with the bigger, gaping wounds, it hurts. You saw that after my battle with the Lizard, remember?"

"Unfortunately," she commented.

She looked toward the high-rises and tried to shoot out a web, but nothing. "Aw come on! Really?!" she complained.

"Don't worry, milady," Spiderman said in a mock-knightly voice. "Your man shall provide you with a chariot for the ages!" He stuck his hand out toward the high rises and pressed his web shooter...

…..only for nothing to happen. "Goddammit," Spiderman mumbled to himself.

"My hero," Ghost Spider quipped, rolling her eyes.

"Guess it's the subway, this time," Spiderman said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

* * *

**Try to guess what Gwen's character flaw in this is..**


	30. A Change in Personality

**Stacy Residence**

**Morning**

Gwen's eyes fluttered open and she was greeted with the sight of annoying sunshine rising in her face. She groaned and rubbed her eyes in protest. Gwen felt like it was a hard contest between school and more sleep, but she figured that since it was a month into her senior year, she might as well put in the effort to get into ESU.

She yawned and moved out of her bed akin to a slug; she scratched her blonde hair and looked on her dresser to see a text from Mary Jane that read:

BE BY YOUR HOUSE AT 8:30.

"She'll probably be here by 8:45," Gwen muttered to herself, rolling her eyes. She moved to her closet to get her usual outfit of the black top, purple skirt, and green jacket, but she paused.

"Hmm...nah, not today," she said. She moved around the other clothes on her rack and smirked to herself when she eyed something out of the norm.

"Gwen!" came the voice of Helen Stacy.

"Yeah, mom?" she replied.

"It's getting close! You're gonna be late for school!"

"No I won't!" Gwen answered back. "Uh, Mary Jane called. Said she was gonna give me a lift!"

"Well, tell her to hurry up, it's 8:30 already!"

"Right!" Gwen grabbed her new outfit and threw it on her bed, feeling more proud of herself than before. _Am I really gonna do this? _she internalized; the blonde had been so accustomed to her classic look that barely a day went by when she wasn't seen like that. Now, she was feeling a different kind of way toward her outward self-expression.

"Ok," she said, smirking to herself. Today was a brand new day...

* * *

**Midtown High**

**Morning**

Gwen and Mary Jane stepped out of the redhead's (well, her Aunt Anna's) 1997 Chrysler Sebring and looked toward their high school.

"Another day walking through prison hall, huh Gwen?" MJ snarked.

"C'mon, don't be like that, MJ," Gwen remarked. "This place has pretty much, the best years of our lives. We'll be looking back on this and saying-"

"-what the hell were we thinking?" MJ finished off sarcastically. "Let's go G-dog. Wouldn't wanna miss out on more soon to be fond memories, am I right?"

Gwen scoffed and walked in front of her friend toward the entrance of Midtown High. The sounds of many students chattering, blasting music and laughing among themselves permeated the crowded hallways of the school. Gwen looked among the crowd to see Peter posting pictures on the bulletin board.

*BONK*

That was the sound a basketball made when it bounced against Peter's face, making the brunet stumble back. Gwen saw the face of Flash Thompson and his cronies, laughing at Peter's expense. "Sorry," the dark skinned athlete said, obvious insincerity coming from his tone.

"M-morning Flash," Peter stammered, trying not to draw attention to himself.

"Goood morning, Penis Parker," Flash greeted, walking by Peter, but not before making the nerdy spider-ling flinch.

Gwen narrowed her eyes at the scene and stormed up to Flash. "Hey!" she called out. "Don't you have a douchebro convention you're late for, _Eugene_?"

Flash frowned at the use of his birth name; he huffed through his nose. "I'mma let that slide Stacy," he conceded.. As he walked away, he pointed at Peter. "Better check your girl, Penis! She's got an attitude problem!"

Gwen watched as the bullies walked away. "F*&kin' tool," she said. She looked over at Peter, who was nursing the side of his head. "You ok, Petey? Where's Ned?"

"Flu. Sick. But I'll be fine. Nothing I've ever been through before," he replied. When Peter looked up at Gwen, he stopped rubbing the side of his head and his breath hitched in his throat.

"Seriously, why haven't you kicked his ass yet?" Gwen asked, frustrated. "You know you can."

Peter did not respond, still transfixed by the sight of his girlfriend; Gwen had on her usual green coat, but the rest of her garb was replaced by a very tight button shirt showing off a scandalous amount of cleavage, denim short shorts, and knee high go-go boots.

"Earth to Peter...helloooo?" she said, snapping her fingers in his face.

"Huh? Oh, uh,...ahem, yeah...what were you saying?" Peter stammered, blushing.

"Noticed my new look, huh?" Gwen teased. "You like?"

"Oh hell yeah," Peter said, absent-minded before his eyes widened. "I-I mean, uh, y-you really changed up your style, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I was feeling a more...expressive mood," she replied, seductively. She closed the gap between her and her boyfriend. "You probably wanna kiss me now; don't blame you. I'm hot."

Peter only smiled like an idiot in response. "Brace yourself," Gwen commented, grabbing his collar and furiously making out with him; it only lasted for a few seconds until the bell rang.

Peter stopped the making out. "A-as much as I'd love to keep this going, I gotta get to class," he said.

"We're gonna finish this later, o man o' mine," Gwen promised. She walked away, swaying her hips and smirking to herself.

_I am so f&*king awesome right now,_ she thought to herself.

* * *

It was noon, lunchtime, and Gwen and Mary Jane were walking outside of the music room, talking among themselves. "G," the redhead began, holding her phone out. "You hear about that new Ghost Spider chick?"

"Why no, I haven't," Gwen replied, feigning ignorance. "Cool name, by the way."

"Says her and Spiderman have been taking down drug dealers in Manhattan," MJ continued. "When they found one of 'em, he was all pale and had veins sticking everywhere."

"Sounds like your typical 'roid rager," Gwen shrugged.

"I really wish they'd just come out and be open."

"Who?"

"All these superheroes," MJ answered. "I mean, it's really nice what they're doing and believe me, it's bomb as s&*t the tricks they do-"

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming," Gwen sniped.

"-but I always thought a real hero stood by what they did. Like, they'd be all, 'Yeah, that was me'," MJ finished. "You ever get that feeling?"

"I dunno, maybe they just don't like the spotlight," Gwen rationalized. The two friends turned down the hall and saw their other friend Betty. Unfortunately, the situation wasn't all too nice; Betty was cowering and near tears, being yelled down to by one Sally Avril, whose lunch was spilled all over the ground.

Sally Avril could only be described by the phrase 'A real piece of work.' Similar to Peter's enmity to Flash Thompson, Sally was a constant pain in Gwen's ass since the day they encountered each other freshman year; the name-calling, the rumors, everything. And now she has the nerve to pick on Betty?

"Avril. S&*t," MJ commented. "The f&*k is she doing?! We gotta-"

"No MJ," Gwen said, taking off her green coat. "Here. Hold this. I got some business to take care of."

The blonde marched toward the scene to help out her fellow blonde; once she arrived, she pushed Sally away from Betty. "You ok, girl," she asked Betty, who nodded. The sight of a tear rolling down her eye infuriated Gwen, who turned toward Sally.

"What's your problem, geek-a-zoid?!" Sally exclaimed.

"ME?! What the f&*k is your problem, Veronica?!" Gwen shouted; a crowd soon formed around the two. "Why are you harassing my girl, huh?"

"Stupid psycho bitch should've watched where she was going," Sally derided, crossing her arms. "What's the matter, you don't have that loser Parker around?"

"You keep him out of this, Becky!" Gwen growled.

"Or what, you gonna tattle on me like you always do?" Sally sniped back. "Such a f&*king little goody-two-shoes. And the name's Sally, by the way!" she corrected

"You wanna piss me off some more, Regina?!" Gwen challenged. "Now I'm only gonna tell you this once because I'm running out of random white girl names: leave Betty and everyone else alone! Or you're not gonna like what I do next."

"Pft, what? Talk me down with science mumbo-jumbo? Figures, you and this little mental patient deser-"

*POW*

Gwen cut off Sally's insult with a punch to the face. She sent the brown haired girl tumbling to the ground, but Gwen was not done yet. She began kicking Sally's downed form in the stomach repeatedly and as hard as she could. Everyone watching cringed at the sight; even Betty and Mary Jane, who were now looking at their friend/bandmate in horror. There was even a point when Gwen grabbed a fistful of Sally's hair and ripped it from her scalp.

After a few minutes, Gwen grabbed a lunch tray from one of the crowd, dumped the food onto the other girl on the floor and started hitting her with the lunch tray.

"F*&k you, f*&k you, f&*k you!" the spider-girl shouted, still beating on Sally. Gwen raised the now bent up metal tray for another hit, only to be stopped by two school security guards, who dragged her away kicking and screaming. As she was dragged away, she caught a glimpse of Peter, who also stared at her with wide eyes.

* * *

**Stacy Residence**

**Mid-Afternoon**

Helen Stacy was usually a calm, easy going lady; hell, this was the main reason why she was able to put up with all her kids plus a ranty, opinionated husband, god rest his soul. There weren't many things that could set the older woman off in life...except for people who jaywalk in the middle of the street when you're rushing for work.

But this was even worse. She glared at her daughter as the two were standing in the living room.

"Is it true? Everything I just heard," Helen asked.

Gwen sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Look mom-"

"Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy, answer my question. Is. It. True?" Helen repeated, emphasizing the last three words. "Did you beat that girl so badly that she had to be sent to the hospital?"

The blonde gritted her teeth at the use of her full name. "Yes," she growled. "But-"

"But what?"

"Th-this girl...she deserved it, mom," Gwen rationalized.

"Is she that same girl you always complained about whenever you got home?" Helen said.

"Yes," Gwen answered.

"Oh," Helen began, sarcasm evident. "Then it was all about getting even. Makes you feel really good inside, doesn't it?"

"Mom, she was picking on one of my friends! What was I supposed to do?!" Gwen bit back.

"Gwen, I'm all for standing up for your friends, but you did not, under any circumstances, have to break six of her ribs and scalp her!" Helen replied, just as angry, "Thanks to that, you've been suspended for a month!"

"I'll make up the work once I get back," Gwen dismissed. She got up from the couch and began walking away, but not before Helen grabbed her by the arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" Helen said.

"Let go of me!" Gwen said.

"You are grounded for a month, Gwen!" Helen said.

"But I was gonna meet up with Betty and Mary Jane later on!" Gwen argued.

"I don't care. I don't want you out of this house another moment."

Gwen wrestled her arm away from mother, huffed out and walked up to her room, slamming the door behind her. In her room, Gwen growled in frustration and started punching her pillow.

After a few moments, Gwen looked at her open closet and saw her Ghost Spider attire hanging there. "Guess it's patrol time again," she mumbled, walking over to her costume. "This time, I'm getting some f*&kin' answers."

* * *

**Looks like Gwen has really become something else hasn't she? Not much Spider action but just a look at Gwen as herself and how she's changed.**

**Leave a like or a review. Thanks.**


	31. Peter's Reflection

**Parker Residence - Queens**

**Night**

Peter was currently sitting on his roof, contemplating the events that occurred at school earlier; he always knew that Gwen could be a feisty young woman (she confronted the Lizard by herself before her powers), but to say that he never expected what happened today to take place. Peter sighed as he attempted to call Gwen again.

"C'mon, pick up, pick up," he mumbled to himself in anticipation.

A few seconds later came the voice of his girlfriend. "Bug-boy?" she answered.

"Hey Gwen," Peter answered. "Where are you?"

"Patrol, doi," she replied. "Trying to find out where our little mystery drug came from. Y'know there's been three more instances of this happening today?"

"That can wait for right now," Peter dismissed. "What I wanna talk about is you. What the hell was that, Gwen?"

He heard the blonde groan from the other line. "No, not this again. I already got this riot act s*&t from Principal Maguire, my mom, and I am not about to get it from you! Besides, I mean, it's not like _you _were fond of Sally Avril yourself!"

"I wasn't," Peter answered. "I saw how mean and cruel she could be toward you; hell, even to me and Ned! I'm not defending her! But I'm not gonna stand here and say that she deserved to be sent to the hospital!"

"She deserved every single bit of that!" Gwen retorted. "Jesus H. f&*king Christ! I put a bitch in her place today and all I'm getting is pissing and moaning from everybody! What's this world coming too?!"

"When I was showing you how to use your powers," Peter began. "I thought you'd be respon-"

"NO!" Gwen shouted on the other line. "Don't use that schtick on me! I am in no mood!"

Peter stood up from his spot on the roof and began pacing around. "Gwen, it sounds like you are losing it. I don't think you should be Ghost Spider anymore. You might hurt somebody else. Or yourself at this rate."

A few seconds of silence emerged before Peter started up again. "Gwen? You still-"

"Yeah, I heard you," she replied. "And I don't believe you. Fat chance I'm giving this up! I'm out here finally making things right and helping people, and you wanna take that away from me?! "

"I'm not taking anything away from you!" Peter snapped. "This is not about me! Don't change the subject!"

"Who the f&*k do you think you are? My dad?!"

"No, but if he was still here, he'd probably talk some sense into you!" Peter snapped before his eyes widened. Of course, her father still is a sore subject for both him and her, and he just _had _to bring it up.

"Gwen," he started. "I'm so-"

"Save it, bug-boy," she growled in response. "I understand how it is."

"No! Wait a sec-" was all Peter could get out before Gwen hung up on him. The spider-ling huffed out in frustration at himself.

"Stupid! Stupid!" he said, deprecating himself.

"Who's stupid?" came the voice of Jessica Drew Parker as she crawled up to the roof next to Peter. "I know Ben isn't the sharpest tool in the shed-"

"Not now, Jess," Peter said. "Something's come up."

"It's not the Spider-Queen again, is it?" Jessica said. "Ben kinda had a point. Supervillains never really stay dead. Especially here."

"No, it's not that. I'm starting to fear it could turn worse," Peter said, worry etched in his tone. "Did I tell you what happened today?"

"I do. That was insane," the brunette answered, confirming it. "I didn't think she had it in her. Remind me never to get on her bad side."

Peter looked far away into the distance. "You weren't there, but you should've seen how she totally lost it today, Jess. The rage on her face; that look in her eyes. All self-control, gone like that. And all it took was something minor. Like a little spark on a bunch of gasoline."

As Jessica listened to Peter's whole spiel, her eyes widened: she was now in an abandoned factory building on the waterfront of Manhattan. There were no lights, and junk and broken windows littered the area. She saw a man wielding a gun backing away slowly from Peter.

_"Just gimme a chance! Just gimme a chance!" the man screamed in fear._

_"What about my uncle? Did you give him a chance?!" Peter growled before grabbing the man and pinning him on the wall._

_"ANSWER ME!"_

"Like when you went after Uncle Ben's killer," Jessica said softly. Peter turned toward her in shock, to which she rolled her eyes. "Same memories, remember?"

"I try not to even think about that night," Peter began. "That...I can't believe I let all that anger consume me like that."

"And then before that, when you humiliated Flash Thompson?" Jessica reminded him. "She's going through the same thing you are when you got your powers, Peter. You became angrier, more violent, and thinking you were invincible."

"If I know Gwen, which I totally do, she's probably out there doing something stupid right now!" Peter realized. "I gotta go talk to her in person!"

"Wait! Wait!" Jessica said, grabbing her 'brother's' arm. "You're only gonna make it worse. She's really volatile right now!"

"That's why I gotta try, Jess!"

"Maybe she just needs some space," she replied.

"Space for what? Beating more people up to inches of their lives?" Peter snarked. "Oh yeah, that's totally a good idea!"

"Remember how everyone gave you space after...you know," Jessica said. She huffed and ran a hand through her long brown hair. "And you slowly became your normal self? It's possible that this might blow over with Gwen. Right now, she doesn't need lecturing."

Peter thought on it for a few seconds before he unclenched his fists and huffed through his nose. "Perhaps you're right."

"Gwen might be angry right now, but she's a smart girl," Jessica said. "She's tougher than she looks. Maybe she'll feel bad about it in the morning."

"Maybe not," Peter shot back. "Call me pessimistic, but something's bad gonna happen. And I'm not gonna wait around for it to happen."

* * *

**Getting serious, isn't it?**

**Read and Review. I appreciate it. :)**


	32. A Lead and Some Strife

**Manhattan**

**Night**

Crime Alley was one of the most popular spots for anyone of the criminal variety: drug dealers, gun runners, con men and the like all performed their activities in this one blind spot of Manhattan. To quote the song, it was like living in a gangster's paradise. The graffitied walls, the smoking barrels, and the ubiquitous presence of alcohol and weed only served to heighten the seedy atmosphere of the place.

Ghost Spider knew that this was the place she had to hit if she wanted any information, and surprisingly, it was pretty easy. A few ducks and dodges here, a good punch to the face or groin there, and most of the low lives in Crime Alley were down without a hitch. She took the pleasure of webbing up one of them and hanging them upside down for an interrogation of sorts.

*PUNCH*

Well, it still was an interrogation. Even if there was violence involved. Right?

Ghost Spider paced around the poor, webbed up thug as she cracked her knuckles. "Just a little wake up call for ya," she commented, cheeky.

"I think you knocked a tooth out a little," the thug complained.

"I'm gonna be knocking out more than that in a few minutes. Now talk!" she threatened. A moment of silence passed by and Gwen cocked her fist back-

*PUNCH*

"Look here man, I'm sure you weren't anticipating this. But I swear to God if you don't give me a f^&*ing name, things are gonna get so much worse from here on," Ghost Spider growled. "I'm not gonna ask you again. Capisci?"

"You Italian or something?" the thug asked.

"Never mind that!"

"What do you wanna know?!"

"Just this week, a group of bikers were planning a drug deal on the waterfront. One of 'em took the drug and it gave them super strength. I can't have this running around New York. Who is supplying you?" Ghost Spider interrogated.

"I don't know," the thug answered.

"C'mon, you drug dealer types are supposed to be brainy. Think, think, think," she taunted, rearing her fist back for another punch.

"You really think you can take him on, little girl?" the thug suddenly mocked. "Please. He'd chew you up and spit you out on the sidewalk."

*PUNCH*

The man was now spitting up blood, which fell onto the hard concrete. "You gonna mock me again? Or you gonna give me a f&*(ing name?" Ghost Spider threatened. "I can do this all day. Can you?"

"Please!" the thug begged. "Please, I don't know nothing! Just let me down, huh?"

"Ooh, but we'd miss out on all the fun," Ghost Spider snarked.

"Hey girlie," a new voice called out. Ghost Spider looked overhead and saw the red and black figure that was the Scarlet Spider (II) descend to the ground. He walked up to the scene.

"Aw great, there's two of you freaks now," the thug whined at the situation.

"Shut the f&*k up," the darker spider-ling growled. "What're ya doin' here, girlie?"

"What's it look like, you schmuck?" she bit back. "Something's going down with a new drug that's about to hit the streets, and I'm trying to find out who supplies it."

"I gotcha," Scarlet Spider (II) said. He unleashed one of his stingers and pointed it at the upside down thug. "Unless ya wanna know what it feels like to get stabbed by this, name now!"

"OK OK!" the thug shouted. "His...his name's Tombstone! That's all I know!"

"Don't f&*kin' lie to us," Scarlet Spider (II) warned.

"I-I've only heard of him," the thug admitted. "He operates a chop shop. Somewhere in Harlem. He's mad powerful. If only I could see him kill both of you motherf&*."

"Today's your lucky day, buddy," Ghost Spider commented. "If he didn't show it, this would've gotten a lot worse."

"I catch ya around here pushin' s^&t again, the cops won't even be able to ID ya body," Scarlet Spider warned.

He suddenly picked up his fellow enhanced and jumped to the rooftop a few streets away. When the two landed, Kaine let Gwen go and she pulled down her hood.

"How'd you find me?" Gwen asked. "Did Peter send you?"

"Shrimp? Pssh, nah. Came here lookin' to bust up some f&* on my own. Wasn't expectin' to see ya here," Kaine admitted. "What got ya all dressed up and doin' this?"

"There's too much crime in this city and I don't want anymore if I can help it," Gwen replied. "It's my duty to stop it if I can."

Kaine rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Yeah, ya sound like somebody Petey would be with. Anyways, I heard what ya did to that one chick-"

"If you're here to lecture me, save it!" Gwen said.

"I ain't finished, Blondie," Kaine growled. "I ain't gonna f^&*ing do that. I ain't Shrimp or Wuss. But I am gonna tell ya one thing: that bitch mighta deserved to get a punch in the mouth, but what ya did ain't you, Gwen."

"Oh, so now you think you're the f&*^ing expert on who I am?" the blonde doubted. "Please. I didn't even know you existed until a few months ago. Don't act like you know me."

Kaine huffed out a breath. "I do know ya. I might not've been, what's the word? Uh, physically here to know ya, but I do. I get these...visions, and Ben and Jess do too, o' Peter's life and his memories and s&*t. I can't explain it." He took off his mask and scratched his beard. "I remember ya was, kinda shy and...but ya was still not takin' s^&t from anybody. Ya could shut anybody down just by ya self and ya didn't need to f&*kin' hit anybody like I do."

"Is there a point to this?" Gwen said, impatient.

"For f^&*'s sake, if ya interrupt me one more f^&*in' time," Kaine mumbled. He cleared his throat and continued. "Ya changin' Blondie. Everything about ya is changin'. And change is good, y'know? If we didn't change, what's the point o' life? But then sometimes, change ain't good."

"I like this change, Kaine! For the first time in my life, I feel...strong! Like I can do anything and take anyone on! And I'm not about to give that up!"

"I ain't tellin' ya to give it up, Blondie," Kaine said. "Ya gotta think about certain things."

Gwen looked up and then back down at Kaine. "You all doubt me," she began. "You think that just because I was the girl Peter always saved from the bad guy that I'm weak. Even when Peter was training me, showing me the ropes, you all still think I'm still helpless! Well, news flash, damsel-in-distress Gwen is gone and now you got 'I'm gonna kick your ass' Gwen. Deal with it!"

Kaine put his mask back on and prepared to swing off. "Goodbye, Blondie. Just remember: this s^&t ain't a f*&^in' game. Ya cocky right now. Think ya on top o' the f^&*in' world, don't ya? Soon, ya gonna see what I mean." And with those last few words, Kaine swung off into the night.

"Thinking I'm weak. Doubting me," Gwen mumbled to herself as she too sung off in the opposite direction. "Well f^&k all of you. You'll see. And Tombstone? Wherever you are, I'm coming for you! Just waiting for the right time."

* * *

**AN: Don't worry, this story isn't going anywhere. I know there's not a lot of action in this volume, but I want to focus on Gwen's state of mind after getting her powers and how it's affecting her. She's gonna be in for a big wake up call soon.**

**Read and Review.**


	33. Bring the Pain

**Stacy Residence**

**Afternoon**

At this time, Gwen would usually be sitting at lunch with either the Mary Janes or Peter and Ned, then the bell would ring and she'd be in class as studious as possible. Then she remembered, quite bitterly in fact, that she was suspended for a month for fighting. So she decided to spend her morning perched at her laptop, searching up information on whoever or whatever this 'Tombstone' was that one of the drug dealers mentioned.

The blonde typed furiously, trying to get any sort of lead on the mysterious figure, but so far nothing had come up except literal pictures of tombstones.

"Come on, come on, come on," Gwen mumbled to herself. "There's gotta be something on you..."

She attempted her search again, but to no avail. Other than more pictures of tombstones, there was nothing useful she could find. As she continued on, Gwen reflected on the night before and her encounter with Kaine.

_"Ya changin' Blondie. Everything about ya is changin'."_

She shook her head to banish Kaine's words out of her head; she reasoned that she needed to focus on the problem at hand and not fixate on the failed words of someone trying to lecture her on who she is. Pausing for a moment, Gwen thought of other search engines she could use: Bing? Nope. Jeeves? Good Lord, who uses that anymore? What else? What else?

"Oh doi, Gwen," she said, smacking her forehead with her palm. "NYPD database."

She headed over to the NYPD database and remembering her father's profile (God rest his soul), she managed to breach in and search up whatever there was about Tombstone. After numerous loading screens and even one screen freeze, five minutes later she got a hit.

"Hmm...Janice Lincoln," she said out loud. "Taken into custody about six months back, mentioned something regarding 'Tombstone' which made little sense to the officers interrogating her, seemed skittish and nervous-yeah she's hiding something."

Gwen narrowed her eyes at the screen. "Alright, Janice. What could you be hiding? And how are drugs involved?"

The spider-girl got up from her chair and walked toward her closet but paused. She thought back to her grounding (which was totally unfair, BTW) and wondered if she could get away, solve this problem and come back before her mom came home. She looked at her Ghost Spider outfit once more and shook her head.

"Mm-mm. Too risky right now," she mumbled. She looked outside at the sun; once it went down, she internalized, then she'd make her move.

* * *

**Midtown High**

**Afternoon**

It was fairly different in school without Gwen. Of course MJ still had Betty by her side, but it was difficult for her to keep the neurotic blonde a few steps away from having a nervous breakdown in front of the whole school; she always wondered how Gwen did it. Maybe it was a blonde thing and as a redhead couldn't understand it? Probably not.

The population of Midtown High all scurried out of the entrance, desperately wanting to get home to their various activites. MJ was walking alongside Betty as she touched her shoulder, making the blonde turn her head swiftly at her.

"Whoa! D-don't do that anymore!" Betty said. "You scared me half to death, Mary!"

"Betty," MJ began. "You know that nothing's gonna happen to you on a typical Tuesday afternoon after school. Can you stop being so paranoid for one second?"

"I'm not being paranoid, I'm being safe," the blonde replied. "Did you know that in college settings like a crowd are where young women can be kidnapped and never seen again?"

"Who told you that bulls&^t?" MJ wondered. "Cause...it's kinda plausible."

"My brother," Betty said proudly. "At least until he was...hauled off to prison."

"Dark," the redhead commented. The two girls walked to the steps outside of Midtown High and sat down. Betty took out a pill bottle and a water bottle from her backpack and took the pill as instructed.

"Alrighty, one hour and I'll be as calm as the Hoover Dam," Betty said.

"I'm pretty sure it's burst a few times," MJ said.

"You think Gwen's going insane?" Betty asked out of the blue. "I mean, I've never seen her be like this before. It was like watching a pitbull eat a chihuahua. Or like in that movie Cujo, when he killed the cop who came to see everything. Or maybe it's like watching a lioness devour a gaz-"

"BETTY!" MJ looked at Betty, perturbed. "Ok, two things: first, I'm gonna need you to stop watching so much NatGeo. Second, yeah it was freaky. Sally Avril might be a total bitch, but that was just...I mean, Jesus."

"I know, right," the voice of Ned Leeds said. He and Peter walked up to the two ladies, where Ned and Betty embraced each other and Peter sat next to MJ. "Dude, it was like a prison fight. Now nobody's gonna mess with her," Ned continued.

"Parker, you're her boyfriend. Don't you know what's up with her?" MJ accused, pointing at Peter.

Peter sighed, sadness evidenced. "I haven't spoken to her since that day. Every time I do it goes to voicemail and I just don't bother. I know, not checking up on my girlfriend totally makes me sound like a complete a%^hole, doesn't it?"

"Look, Peter," MJ began. "The best thing you probably can do right now is to just wait. Besides, if she wants to talk, then she can grow a pair of t^ts and come talk to us herself."

"Dude!" Peter exclaimed. "Can you try to be a little more sensitive?"

"I'm just saying," MJ replied, holding her hands in surrender. "You're probably thinking it too!"

"N-maybe a little bit," Peter admitted. He turned to Ned, who was still talking to Betty. "Ned? Dude, remember what I was gonna talk to you about?"

"Does it have to be now, Peter?" Ned whined, holding Betty. "Me and Betty are gelling with each other right now."

"You are kinda c&*kblocking," MJ said, smirking. "I thought guy friends guided the c&*k, not blocked it."

Peter groaned and pushed Ned away from Betty, and a few seconds later, the duo were walking away; Ned turned his head around and mouthed 'Call me' to Betty, who smiled in return.

"Alright, so listen to this," Peter began, looking at his phone. "Me, Ben and Jessica just analyzed the stuff from that inhaler from the other night, and it's something called Diox-3."

"Typical name for a chemical, I guess," Ned commented, rolling his eyes.

"The components in it are usually used for some kind of plant preservative," Peter continued.

"So is it just a matter of time before whoever takes this all morphs into Poison Ivy?" Ned wondered.

"No. Ned, this is serious. I managed to trace it back to Oscorp. Apparently they stopped producing this years ago after one guy was exposed to it and the results weren't pretty," Peter explained.

"Any details?"

"That's the weirdest part. They covered it all up and it was never mentioned again."

"We're now moving away from Poison Ivy and now entering Andromeda Strain territory," Ned said, to which Peter looked at him with an amazed face. "Yes, I have the book. Betty lent it to me. You should give it a read sometime."

"...I'll think about it," Peter said. "But now I gotta create a counter-drug to combat this just in case we hear about any other guys dosing themselves with this."

"You've certainly gone beyond what they teach us in chemistry class," Ned said. "Can you teach me that?"

Petr smirked at his friend. "I'll see if I can get Mr. Stark on board when he's free."

"So never."

"Most likely."

* * *

**Harlem, Manhattan**

**Night**

Janice Lincoln walked out of a nightclub, joy and exhaustion present on her face. On the outside, she wasn't unattractive: light brown skin, brown eyes and black hair, with a nice purple skirt and blouse. Unassuming to the naked eye, at least to the less observant person.

She laughed among a group of friends and even held one of their heads as they threw up on the concrete. Just a typical, average aftermath of too much fun and too much liquor.

The group of women all split off from each other and Janice walked over to her car, which was located in a more remote part of the parking lot. As she entered her vehicle and prepared to put the key in the ignition, she saw a figure jump down onto the hood, to which she jumped.

Ghost Spider waved mockingly at her. "Hi there, you Janice Lincoln? Don't answer that. I know you are. I got a few questions for ya, so if you don't mind getting out...yeah, we can get this over with a lot quicker."

Janice only stared, transfixed at the sight in front of her. "What in the f^&k?" she whispered to herself.

"Hmm, seems like we have a failure to understand. Let me put it more clearly: get out of the f&*kin' car!" Ghost Spider shouted, jumping off the hood. She tore the driver's door and yanked Janice out, pinning her against the car.

"Hey! C'mon, lemme go you f&*kin' psycho!" Janice said, trying to wrestle her out of Ghost Spider's iron grip.

"Not until you answer my questions," Ghost Spider replied, still maintaining her grip. "I know you were questioned by the NYPD about six months ago and I have to know: what or who is Tombstone?"

"Are you kidding me?" Janice snapped. "Look here-"

"I swear to God if you say that you're not talking, or you lie to me, I'm gonna straight go apes^&t on you, lady," the spider-girl growled, tightening her grip on Janice. "This is your only chance. Make it count."

Janice gulped at the implied threat. "Alright, alright! His name's Lonnie Lincoln! He's my dad! Just please lemme go!"

"WHERE IS HE?! WHERE ARE THE OTHER DRUGS?!"

"He-I forgot the address," Janice replied.

Ghost Spider punched near Janice's head, which left a broken window in her car. "B-but I know it's somewhere in Hell's Kitchen. It's called Pale Horse Ridez," she added quickly.

The spider-girl let Janice go and took a few steps back. "If I find out you're lying, I will find you and demolish you," she threatened.

"He's there, ok?! I swear to God!" Janice reassured.

"He better be."

Ghost Spider swung off, leaving Janice both confused and scared. The young woman took out her phone and dialed a number.

"Dad. You will not believe what just happened..."

* * *

**Hell's Kitchen: Pale Horse Ridez**

"Yeah, this is the place," the Ghost Spider whispered to herself as she crawled through the ventilation shaft of the chop shop. When she arrived, the place looked exactly how she expected: like a two-bit, ghetto version of a Hell's Angels meetup spot. And the name? Purely someone trying so desperately to sound hip and with the kids.

As she looked down one of the vents, which was an open area for repairs and the like, she took notice of an office with a glass window. "C'mon boss!" A voice pleaded. "Th-they'll never notice!"

Ghost Spider saw a man go flying and crash straight through the window and onto the ground, groaning in pain; a giant, bald, albino man with a leather jacket and a scarf slowly approached the downed man. The blonde spider-ling remained silent as she watched the confrontation.

"Tombstone," Ghost Spider murmured.

"You right Rick," the pale skinned giant man, Tombstone, said, his voice heavy with bass. He grabbed Rick's shoulder and crashed his head into the pavement. "They won't notice. 'Cause there's hardly any of it there!"

Rick screamed in pain, his eyes and nose coated with blood as Tombstone threw him back onto the ground. The man crawled toward a gun and pointed it to the giant. "I SAID I'LL FIX IT!" he yelled. He screamed in even more pain as Tombstone grabbed his hand and squeezed it; audible snaps in Rick's hand were heard, causing Ghost Spider to wince.

Tombstone smirked and guided Rick's broken hand to his forehead. "Go ahead Rick, try it," he goaded, cocking the gun for him. A few seconds of intense silence passed before a gunshot was heard and Ghost Spider closed her eyes; when she opened them back up, she saw that Tombstone was still standing and Rick was still on the ground.

She watched as Tombstone effortlessly broke the pistol in half and proceeded to lay the smackdown on Rick, punctuated by Rick's screams of agony and more bones breaking. It only took a minute and a half before Tombstone stepped on Rick's head, causing blood to gush all over the ground. Ghost Spider's heart beat wildly in her chest before she huffed and steeled herself.

_"No going back now, Gwen,"_ she internalized. _"You can take this guy."_

Ghost Spider forced open the vent and descended from a web upside down behind Tombstone, who was moving toward a bottle of whiskey on a brown table. "Jesus, Toretto. You went crazy after Brian died."

Tombstone chuckled at Ghost Spider's quip. "Yeah. It's been hard since his death."

"I can tell." Ghost Spider dropped down and got into a defensive stance. "Alright, I'm done with the quips. The drugs turning people into mini-Hulks! You supplying it?"

"Diox-3. Sounds like me. What's your first clue?" Tombstone replied, setting his whiskey down.

"Nice rhymes. I'm here to shut you down, baldy!" Ghost Spider said.

Tombstone laughed out loud at the proclamation. "You? Just by yourself? No backup or nothing?" He slowly walked to the left and picked up a sledgehammer; her spider-sense flaring off, Ghost Spider dodged the incoming blows, sliding underneath Tombstone's legs at the final one.

"That all you got?" Ghost Spider taunted; she leapt forward to land a punch on Tombstone's chest, only to recoil at the pain in her hand. "AAH! S^&T!"

Taking advantage of the distraction, Tombstone swung his sledgehammer and hit Ghost Spider, sending her flying into a motorcycle and then into the wall. The blonde groaned in pain as she got up and lunged at the behemoth of a drug dealer once again. She grabbed a hold of him and used two webs to try and tie around his neck. Ghost Spider struggled due to Tombstone's flailing about, nearly knocking her off.

"Damn, Mr. Thickness! What've you been eating?!" she commented.

She was soon thrown off and landed on the ground. Before Ghost Spider was able to recover, Tombstone loomed over her and stomped his foot on the radius of her right leg, causing her to scream out in pain as she heard a snap.

Using her left leg, she kicked him in the groin but to her amazement, he did not crumble like many other bad guys normally would. Tombstone slapped her leg away and punched her hard, twice in the ribcage and twice in the face. Grabbing a random object, she hit him on the side of the head with it, making him stumble. She took the chance to make distance between them and landed between two motorcycles. Using her webs, she threw one of the motorcycles at Tombstone, which sent him flying into the wall adjacent to the office. The impact of Tombstone made the shelf on the wall collapse and brought a few propane tanks crashing onto the ground also. The propane mixed with the gasoline from the now destroyed motorcycle and set off a fire.

Ghost Spider lied on the ground, clutching her ribcage and coughing up blood; she also had a broken nose and a black eye. The mask she wore was quickly getting soaked in the blood from her face. She wished she could've grabbed the radius of her right leg, but the pain in her upper body and everywhere else was too great. She attempted to get up, but was hit hard on the back by Tombstone using a 2x4.

"Not even close, youngblood," he commented. Ghost Spider looked up at him and her eyes widened behind her mask in shock; despite getting hit head on with a motorcycle, the pale, bald drug dealer still looked virtually unscathed. "If you get outta this, I can't wait for a rematch."

Ghost Spider watched as Tombstone calmly walked through the back exit of the chop shop. Attempting to get up, she was met instead with an explosion of the bike a few feet away from her; the explosion tore off a chunk of the roof and it landed on her, trapping her underneath.

Stuck in a burning chop shop, which was close to being filled with smoke, numerous broken bones and a piece of roof on top of her, Ghost Spider began hyperventilating.

" *cough* No! NO NO NO!" she screamed. "HEY! HELLOOOOO?!"

The young up and coming superheroine received no response. Blood dripped from her nose and her mouth as she once again tried to call out.

"HELLOOOOOOO?! Someone! Hey! Please! I can't-I can't move! I-" Ghost Spider stopped screaming as she attempted to lift the rubble off of her, but to no avail.

Fear overtook her entire being at her predicament. She was pinned.

* * *

**Don't worry people. This ain't the end by a longshot.**

**Read and Review.**


	34. The Sweet Escape and Aftermath

Previously on Enter the Spider-Clan:

_" *cough* No! NO NO NO!" she screamed. "HEY! HELLOOOOO?!"_

_The young up and coming superheroine received no response. Blood dripped from her nose and her mouth as she once again tried to call out._

_"HELLOOOOOOO?! Someone! Hey! Please! I can't-I can't move! I-" Ghost Spider stopped screaming as she attempted to lift the rubble off of her, but to no avail._

_Fear overtook her entire being at her predicament. She was pinned._

* * *

Gwen Stacy imagined a lot of things in life: going to college, becoming a respected biologist, still being a drummer with MJ and Betty, seeing England. Picture her shock when she woke up with spider powers; the first thing she thought of was how she could use them to clean up crime in New York just like her father and Peter. When she found out drugs were being dealt in this city, she took it upon herself to dole out justice to whomever dealt them.

But damn...

She was not imagining this: stuck. Pinned under a slab of broken off roof in a burning chop shop, the heat rising, her broken bones enveloping her with pain.

Gwen, with tears in her eyes, strained to pull the rubble off of her. She screamed at the pain of her broken ribs and right leg radius.

She grunted as she strained once more, this time managing to lift the rubble up a few inches. However, more particles from the ceiling dropped onto the slab atop her, bringing Gwen back down again.

"Oh f&*k, oh f&*k, oh f&*k," she panicked. Gwen was hyperventilating and the fire from within the chop shop was nearly blinding.

"What do I do?!" she yelled out. "Oh Jesus, what do I do?!"

"Hey," a voice called out. Gwen looked up to see a figure about 6'2" with dirty blonde hair and wearing a policeman's outfit, complete with bulletproof vest.

"Dad?" she asked, befuddled.

_No,_ she internalized. _No, he's dead. He can't be here._

"What's this? C'mon, what's goin' on?" the apparition of George Stacy said. "Get off the floor, Gwennie. Ya better than this. Seriously, you know how many germs are on this ground alone?"

Gwen winced at the pain from her broken ribs and slowly began to lift herself and the rubble above her. Her arms shook under the weight of the rubble. "I can't do it," she whispered. "I can't-oh God, what do I do?"

"Remember what I told ya when you was little?" the image of George said, "What happens when ya fall and hurt ya'self, huh?"

"Y-y-you get back up," the blonde stuttered.

"That's right. Let's go. C'mon, get a hold of ya'self, Gwennie. Ya got this. No pain," George encouraged before he faded away.

"No pain, Gwen. No pain."

With a renewed sense of persistence, Gwen screamed out as she further lifted up the rubble off her back; after a certain point, she got back onto her feet in a squatting position and was lifting the rubble off. As she stood, the pain in her right leg radius flared up, which nearly made her drop the rubble to clutch it. Ignoring it, she successfully managed to lift the piece of broken off ceiling from her.

The fire around the chop shop still raged and Gwen started coughing, nearly hacking up a lung. She shot out a webline toward the ceiling and pulled herself through the opening where the rubble had broken and fell on her. When Gwen landed on her feet, the pain from all of her broken bones became even more painfully apparent.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" she screamed, clutching her midsection. She sank to the ground on the roof, still screaming in pain. She winced at the severely unpleasant feeling from her ribs and her right leg. Her teeth were so mashed together that one might think that they'd start bleeding soon enough. Her mask was soaked with blood from her broken nose.

Gwen crawled to the edge of the roof and let herself fall. She then web swung for about thirty seconds to the next few roofs and collapsed once more. On the surface of the roof, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she lapsed into unconsciousness.

* * *

**Parker Residence: Queens**

**Night**

Laying on a bed, Gwen's eyes fluttered open and she found Peter, Ben, Jessica and Kaine all looming over her.

"The hell?" she said, her voice now hoarse.

"Welcome back to the land o' the livin', blondie," Kaine commented.

"Dudette, what happened to you?" Ben asked.

"Guys," Peter said, bringing his 'siblings' attention to him. "Can I talk to Gwen alone, please?"

The three nodded and left Peter's room to go downstairs. Peter sat down next to Gwen on his bed. Upon looking at her, he had to cringe at the sight of her bandaged nose and black eye.

"How'd I get here?" Gwen wondered.

"Kaine found you on a rooftop in Harlem," Peter answered. "Thank God. Gwen, what's happened to you?"

Gwen looked down at her wrapped up ribcage and winced, the pain of her broken ribs still present. "I...you remember when we stopped those drug dealers? I found out their source."

"Really, now?" Peter replied. "Speaking o-"

"Lemme finish, please lemme finish," Gwen said. "I..I tried to fight him, Peter, I really-"

"I can't believe you would do something like that. And without telling me?" Peter admonished. "What the hell, Gwen?"

"I didn't want you to become overprotective and worry about me all the time," she replied. " 'Oh, it's too dangerous, Gwen. Don't do this Gwen, don't do that!'"

"Of course I'd be worried," Peter said. "Didn't you always worry about me when I went out and fought bad guys?"

"That was different!"

"How?"

Gwen sighed and exhaled shakily, the pain obvious. "Don't you remember?"

"Remember what?" Peter said.

"What it feels like...to be powerless? Ignored? Before this, I was just nerdy Gwen Stacy. After that gas from the Spider-Queen, I felt like a new person. Like I was reborn and reinvigorated."

Peter's eyes widened at Gwen's explanation; he leaned in and grabbed her hand. "I know. It's like me after I discovered my powers."

"I just wanted to help out. I wanted to be the powerful one for once," Gwen admitted. Peter saw tears well up in her eyes. "Instead I go out and f&*k up. Guess I am a weak little dumb blonde, huh?"

"Don't say that Gwen," Peter replied. "That's not true and you know it."

"Oh really? Then how did this happen, Peter?" she asked. The tears began falling down her face. "I felt so helpless. Like there was nothing I could do."

Peter leaned in closer to her face. "You. Are. Strong. You managed to hit the Lizard with a trophy, help me design a counter to his formula, you found out about the black market the Vulture was in. Heck, you even convinced your friends to help you save Ben from that Mysterio guy. You know something?"

"What?" Gwen replied.

"You did it without Ghost Spider," Peter proclaimed.

Gwen sniffed and Peter wiped away the tears from her face. "I don't know what to do, Peter. I couldn't beat Tombstone tonight, so how am I supposed to beat him next time?"

Peter's eyes gained determination. "Don't you worry. We will. Together. You and me. There's some other stuff I gotta tell you tomorrow, but just to let you know, I have been working on this. Soon, this Tombstone guy is gonna be sorry he ever messed with us, or got into crime."

Gwen gave a quivering smile at Peter. The Spider-Man leaned in and kissed the blonde, who recoiled in pain when he brushed against her broken nose. "Sorry," Peter apologized.

"I saw him tonight," Gwen blurted out. "My dad."

"But isn't he-"

"He is," Gwen interrupted. "I just saw him when...I had some rubble fall on me and I couldn't get it off. I thought I was a goner but then, he showed up, telling me something I haven't heard since I was six years old. That's when I could push that rubble off me and get out of there."

Peter thought back to a similar incident during his battle with the Vulture; it was one of the most harrowing experiences of his teenage life but a reminder of Uncle Ben's words gave him the strength to carry on.

Gwen sighed and squeezed Peter's hand. The two lay beside each other, eventually falling into a slumber, still clutching each others' hands.

* * *

**Yes, some details about Spider-Man's past adventures were changed around. **

**Read and Review.**


	35. Gwen's Awakening

**One and a half Day Later**

**Parker Residence: Queens**

**Mid-Day**

__"HELLOOOOO?!"__

__The young up and coming superheroine received no response. Blood dripped from her nose and her mouth as she once again tried to call out.__

__"HELLOOOOOOO?! Someone! Hey! Please! I can't-I can't move! I-" Ghost Spider stopped screaming as she attempted to lift the rubble off of her, but to no avail.__

__Fear overtook Gwen's entire being at her predicament. She was pinned.__

_The inferno around her blared even more intensely, the heat and humidity becoming nearly supernatural in its effect. _

_Gwen lifted herself up a few inches and came face to face with the visage of Tombstone. _

_"No! NOOO! GET AWAY FROM ME!"_

_The man had a crooked grin as he lifted his right foot and stomped on Gwen's face, knocking her into unconsciousness. Tombstone walked away and the remainder of the rooftop suddenly collapsed on top of Gwen, burying her as the flames engulfed the destroyed chop shop._

Gwen's eyes popped open and she shot straight up. Looking around, she was still in Peter's bed, with the aforementioned teen still sleeping next to her. The blonde breathed heavily as she put her hand to her chest, trying to calm herself down; sweat coated her forehead and soaked her hair. Gwen felt tears well up in her eyes as her thoughts wandered to the nightmare she just had.

Peter, who had stayed in bed with her all day, shifted around and his eyes fluttered open. He yawned and looked at Gwen, who's tears were now flowing from her eyes. "Gwen," Peter said, his voice still permeated with sleep. "Gwen, what's wrong?"

"I-I-I died," Gwen replied, her voice quivering in fear. "I died back there."

Peter shook his head from the sleep and moved closer to Gwen. He wrapped his arms around her waist gently as she began to sob quietly.

"It's gonna be okay, Gwendy," Peter assured.

The two stayed in that position for ten minutes; other than the sound of Gwen's sobs, the two were dead silent.

Peter's thoughts wandered to the night before last, when he was still reeling from seeing Gwen completely lose her temper at Midtown High and nearly beat Sally Avril into a body bag. To say that he was astonished was an understatement; to be honest, it was downright terrifying and freakish seeing her react like that. He obviously never expected her to have such an aggressive side to her, but life is full of surprises.

"M-make it s-s-s-stop," Gwen said through her sobs, breaking the silence. "N-n-no more nightm-mares. Please."

"I wish they would stop too, blondie," Peter started. "I know what it's like. They just keep coming back and they won't stop. They only get worse."

Gwen kept crying as Peter sighed. "I-I-I f&*ked up," Gwen said.

"Remember what I said before?" Peter asked. "It's me and you. We're gonna take down this Tombstone jackass together. I promise you."

"BUT THEN WHAT IF YOU DIE?!" Gwen shouted through her tears. "WHAT IF HE KILLS BOTH YOU AND ME?! WE CAN'T BEAT HIM, PETER! WE JUST CAN'T!"

Gwen put her hands up to her face as her cries intensified. Peter rubbed her back in response, trying to comfort his girlfriend.

"I-I'm scared, Peter," Gwen admitted. She removed her hands from her face and looked at the brunet, chuckling. "Look at me. I'm crying like a little girl and I hate it."

"No," Peter said, his voice stern. "Don't you say that again, you hear me? This is good. You need to let all this out."

Gwen fidgeted around nervously, to which Peter held her a bit tighter. "I hate feeling like a victim," Gwen said. "I want this to stop. I don't wanna feel w-w-weak anymore."

Peter let Gwen go and got up from off the bed, moving toward the door. "Don't go!" the blonde spider-ling cried out.

"It won't be long. I just gotta make sure about something that'll help us take him down." Peter opened the door and was about to walk out, but stopped.

"Let me tell you something Gwen: _I_ was never helped. I had to figure out this whole Spider-Man thing on my own. The Lizard and Vulture gave me nightmares that come back occasionally; but you know what helped me through all of this?"

Peter walked back over to Gwen and cupped her face. "I realized that I still had the strength to carry on and beat both of them. I know you have that strength too. I can't unlock it for you. Only you can do that."

"I'm not sure if I can," Gwen admitted, her voice holding sadness.

Peter kissed her, holding on for a few seconds. "I'm gonna go talk to the others about what we're gonna do. Just...try and pull yourself together, ok?"

"Y-yeah. I-I should," the blonde replied. The two teens smiled at each other and Peter left out the door, leaving Gwen alone with her thoughts.

* * *

**Parker Residence: The Basement**

**Mid-Day**

The basement of the Parker home was nothing really special; it was just a mildly spacious area with tons of boxes and other junk. There was a singular lightbulb that adorned the ceiling accompanied by the string that turned the light on and off.

Ben, Kaine and Jessica all stood in front of a potted plant that was a solid silver all around, from the stem and branch to the leaves.

"God, I can never understand how ya guys deal with all this sci-fi s&*t," Kaine commented, gazing at the plant. "Seems f&*kin' insane to me."

"That's the beauty of science, Kaine," Jessica replied. "A bit of insanity helps out a lot."

"That and being smart," Ben rang out, a smirk on his face directed at the bigger Parker sibling.

"Don't make me come over there an' wipe that smirk off ya face there, _smartass,_" Kaine threatened.

Jessica sighed at the remark. "Can't you two get along like normal people?"

"We're not normal, Jess. You of all people should know that," Ben replied. The trio's attention was diverted to seeing Peter open the basement and walk down the short amount of steps.

"Hey there, Petey," Ben greeted.

"How's Gwendy?" Jessica asked.

Peter shook his head. "All shaken up and scared. I don't blame her; this Tombstone guy sounds serious. Even worse than Vulture."

"That ain't sayin' much, Shrimp," Kaine said. "Maybe we should go back up there an' smack some sens-"

"No," Peter interrupted. "The only person that can get through this is Gwen herself. Nothing's gonna convince her otherwise."

"If we're lucky, maybe she'll have some kinda training montage to get herself back in shape," Ben said, making Peter and Jessica groan.

"Dude, that only happens in movies," Jessica retorted.

"Just saying," Ben muttered.

"Anyways," Peter spoke up, "Back on track. Jessica and I have been analyzing this Diox-3 stuff and it seems to be some kind of plant preservative. The genetic makeup of this plant in front of you right now is something I've never seen before."

Peter took out a lighter and held it to the plant; the plant caught fire, but the trio noticed that the plant did not char and turn black due to the flame.

"Shouldn't this thing be on f&kin' fire right now?" Kaine asked.

"You'd think so, but no," Jessica commented before licking two of her fingers and touching the plant, extinguishing the small flame. "I did the same thing over three times. I even tried to tear one of the leaves. I tried cutting it; it broke the scissors."

"This chemical stuff turned it into a tough son of a bitch," Kaine remarked.

"That's understatement of the year," Peter said. "If I'm going by what Gwen told me hours ago, it sounds like this Tombstone guy took it. He survived having a motorcycle thrown at his face with no injuries whatsoever. It even upped his strength."

"So this s&*t can make people invincible?" Kaine said in disbelief. "Well that's horses^&t."

"Wait! I sense something good coming!" Ben said, excited. "Something that can help us with this!"

"That you're right, Benny," Jessica said. "Show 'em, Peter."

Peter nodded and took out a fire extinguisher...

* * *

**Back in Peter's Room**

Gwen lay in Peter's bed, staring up at the ceiling in deep thought. Try as she might, she simply could not get her mind off of that fateful night where she was nearly crushed by rubble and would've either been crushed to death or burned to death. She shook her head and tried to steel her resolve.

"Stop thinking about it, Gwen," she said to herself. "Think about something else."

She moved her hand to her ribcage and found that it did not hurt as much as it did that night. "Huh. That healed up quickly," she commented. She moved her right leg and gasped; there was no pain in her radius at all!

"Wow. People with superpowers do heal quickly," she said out loud. "Maybe I can h-"

Gwen stopped herself mid-sentence, her thoughts going back to the beating and near death at the hands of Tombstone. Her hands were shaking and her breaths were starting to become shorter and panicked. "No, no," she said. "I can't. I can't go back there. He'll kill me. He'll kill Peter."

Her eyes began to well up with tears once more. Fear was slowly beginning to overwhelm her entire being. What would happen if Tombstone killed her and Peter? If she died first, Peter would never forgive himself and not to mention her mother-

Oh f&*k.

Her mother.

Gwen completely forgot about that; despite her not showing any regret for beating Sally down, Gwen still listened to her mother and was supposed to be grounded for a month.

_"F&*k it,"_ she thought to herself before her thoughts went back to the more morbid situation she was in.

If Tombstone killed Peter, that would devastate his newfound siblings, Ned, but most importantly, Peter's poor aunt would now have to live with outliving the two most important people in her life. That was something the blonde wouldn't wish on anyone.

"It's all over, isn't it?" Gwen asked herself, tears running down her face once again. "That's how it ends: one or both of us dead. I shouldn't do this. Maybe someone else, someone more experience can-"

"What are you f&*kin' talking about?" an echo-y voice said. Gwen sprang up and looked around Peter's room to see a figure with blonde hair, wearing a green trench coat, a black shirt and a purple skirt.

"Who are you?" Gwen asked.

"What's it to you, princess? I'm you," the figure replied.

"Hold on," Gwen began. "If you're me and sitting over there, then who am I?"

"You're stupid. We're both the same person! I'm just your conscience taking on your form. BTW, we haven't spoken for a while. How are you?"

The normal Gwen ignored the question and went back to staring at the ceiling.

"What's with this weepy, whiny bulls^&t?" Gwen's conscience asked, her tone harsh. "Peter's survived worse."

"I'm not Peter," Gwen replied instantly. "I'm not a superhero. I'm just a stupid blonde girl with freak powers."

"Listen to yourself! Jesus f&*kin' Christ, you're pathetic!" Gwen's conscience berated.

"If you're here to talk s&*t, maybe you should go away," the blonde retorted.

Gwen saw the apparition of her civilian form pace around Peter's room. "I'm inside you, blondie. I'm not going away until you get a hold of yourself."

"I can't do it," Gwen said. "I'm not even gonna waste my time trying to beat that big fat invincible tub of lard."

Gwen's conscience laughed derisively. "Can't? Where's this 'can't' nonsense coming from? You think Peter thought that when he fought the Lizard? Something that you helped out with. Where was that fear before?"

"He was the one who had to fight him!" Gwen retorted. "I was just-"

"On the sidelines like a good little damsel-in-distress," the apparition interrupted, sneering at the lying form of Gwen.

"Don't call me that," the blonde growled.

"Why not? Clearly you're scared and want your boyfwiend to save you fwom the big, bad Tombstone guy." Gwen narrowed her eyes in fury at her conscience, who smirked at her. "What's the matter? Gonna cwy? Waa, it's so scawy, waa!"

"What do you want from me?" the blonde growled.

"To get off your ass, quit feeling sorry for yourself, and man-uh, I mean-woman up!"

Gwen huffed out a shaky breath. "I'm terrified."

"So is everyone else when they do something like this. You just gotta work through it," her conscience said; her echo-y voice now held a tone of comfort. "Now get up and show 'em all who's the HBIC!"

Gwen watched as the vision of herself faded away; the blonde narrowed her eyes, steely in her resolve and got off the bed. She gritted her teeth when she stood on her right leg.

"Ok, not all the way healed, but whatever," she mumbled in pain.

She limped over to Peter's computer desk and grabbed her blood soaked mask; Gwen headed over to Peter's bathroom and turned on the sink, cleaning the blood off her mask.

* * *

**Back in The Basement**

The Spider-siblings watched as Peter pointed the extinguisher filled with the counter-formula at the plant; he sprayed the plant, prompting the others to cover their faces as to prevent the gas from getting to them.

After waving away some of the residual gas, the Parkers stared at the plant. "What's happening?" Ben asked.

"Just watch," Peter answered.

After a few seconds, they all witnessed the plant beginning to lose the silver luster and turning back to it's normal green color.

"It's working! Peter, it's working!" Jessica said excitedly.

"Ya a f&*kin' genius, Shrimp," Kaine said.

"This is what's gonna allow us to beat Tombstone and anyone else who took Diox-3," Peter said with pride. "Now onto the next problem: where could he be?"

"I doubt he's still in Hell's Kitchen," Ben said. "I mean, come on? Who's dumb enough to go back to what caused so much s&*t for them in the first place, right?"

"Don't sound so sure, Wuss," Kaine said. "I fought these idiots a bunch o' times, an' some o' 'em are stupid enough to think that they can still do their drug s^&t without anyone else findin' out."

"Great," Jessica said, sarcastic. "We're on a wild goose chase now."

Kaine cracked his knuckles. "We gotta be patient. Wait for night to come out. Then, we go an' make a few guys lives' miserable an' get some info."

"Kaine's right," Peter agreed. "We have to be patient about this. Plus, I'm not even sure how long this counter-drug will last."

"Peter?"

The Spider-siblings all turned behind them and saw Gwen walking down the short flight of steps with a determined, steely look in her eyes.

"Gwendy!" Peter said, astonished. "Aren't you still injured?"

"I heal fast. Just like you," she answered.

"Not that fast," Peter said back. "You still have, like, six bones estimated still broken."

"Which means I got about two hundred unbroken ones," Gwen replied. "I know you're thinking 'Wow Gwen, you got over your fears fast!' Well, I'm not fully over it. I don't know if I'll ever be, but this isn't the time for that. I did some thinking and I realized that right now is the time for me to put my big girl panties on and whoop some ass!" Her voice was fierce and determined at the last line

Gwen smiled at the rest of her fellow spiders. "So what's the plan?"

* * *

**Things are gonna start flaring back up soon. I know that the beginning sounds similar to last chapter, but Gwen's had a little bit of time to recuperate and now, she ready.**

**Read and Review.**


	36. Gwen Stacy, the Ghost Spider

**One Day and Twelve Hours Ago...**

_Ghost Spider punched near Janice's head, which left a broken window in her car. "B-but I know it's somewhere in Hell's Kitchen. It's called Pale Horse Ridez," she added quickly._

_The spider-girl let Janice go and took a few steps back. "If I find out you're lying, I will find you and demolish you," she threatened._

_"He's there, ok?! I swear to God!" Janice reassured._

_"He better be."_

_Ghost Spider swung off, leaving Janice both confused and scared. The young woman took out her phone and dialed a number._

_"Dad. You will not believe what just happened..."_

_"Some motherf&*ker put his hands on you, Jan?" came the concerned voice of Tombstone on the other line._

_"No, no. Nothing like-ok, sort of," Janice corrected. "You heard about that spider-chick with the hood, right?"_

_"Yeah. I remember somethin' about that," Tombstone responded. "She didn't f&*k with you, did she?"_

_Janice huffed out angrily. "She did, the bitch. She had me cornered and was gonna whoop the s&*t outta me. The point is: she's coming after you now."_

_"Ok, sweetie. I got somethin' for her ass, don't worry," Janice's father reassured. "I'm just glad she didn't hurt you. I don't know what I would do if somethin' bad happened to you."_

_"It's fine, dad. I'll be fine," Janice replied. "I guess we gotta move outta New York now. If Spider-Bitch found out about you, there's no doubt she'll ruin you."_

_"Uh-uh. No way. I get caught, I know I can trust you to bail me and the boys out. Bye, Jan. Love you."_

_"Love you too, dad." With that, Janice Lincoln hung up her phone and looked at the broken window of her car. "F&*king bitch," she mumbled._

* * *

_**Present**_

**Parker Residence - Basement**

**Night**

The Parker siblings plus Gwen Stacy stood among one another, discussing various plans in regards to taking down the notorious drug dealer. Ben was standing next to the plant that was now struggling to lose its silver luster.

"You might've had a point, Petey," Ben commented. "The counter-drug isn't lasting very long. That's not good."

"We might just have to up the dosage. We did hit the plant with only a little, after all," Jessica said.

"Don't worry about that right now. I'm thinking we should head back to the waterfront in Manhattan. See if he's got any other warehouses where he conducts business," Peter proposed.

Gwen shook her head. "Not a good idea, bug-boy. If there's anything I learned from being a police captain's daughter, it's that guys like this don't return to places associated with their crimes. Too suspicious."

Kaine snorted. "I wouldn't be so sure o' that, Blondie. These crooks an' hoods are f&*kin' stupid sometimes."

"Gwen might have a point, Kaine," Peter responded before slapping his hand to his head. "What was I thinking? That's the first place he'd expect us to hit. Man, I'm being stupid."

The blonde spider-ling put her hand on Peter's shoulder. "It's alright, Peter."

"Wait," Ben rang out. "What happened after he whooped your ass, Gwen?"

"First off, he didn't whoop my ass," Gwen began through gritted teeth. "Second: he ran off. The place was on fire and he would've been trapped like I was. Or caught on fire."

"Ran off, huh?" Ben repeated. "If this guy's supposed to be some big time drug dealer, there's no way he'd stick around. I mean, he already had the Ghost Spider on his tail; who's to say that she didn't survive and tell Spider-Man and his merry band of freaks?"

"So you're saying that he's running scared now?" Jessica asked. "Makes the most amount of sense. He might've taken down Gwen-"

"He did not take me down!" Gwen denied angrily.

"-but he knows, even with his weird steroid powers, that he can't take on five of us at once," Peter finished.

"He got lucky when he fought me," Gwen said. "If it wasn't for that explosion, I'd have had him on the ropes...eventually. Ok, maybe he did whoop my ass."

"Where could Tombstone be right now is the question," Peter said.

"We'll find out when we get to Manhattan. Tired of sittin' here and f&*kin' talkin'," Kaine said, irritated. He walked up the short stairway and exited the basement.

"Jess. Hand me the fire extinguisher," Peter said, to which she did. "There's not a large amount of the counterdrug in here, so we gotta be careful with this."

"Got it, bro!" Ben said, doing a silly salute.

"Alright, let's go tear this bastard up!" Gwen announced. Before the blonde could leave and join the others, Peter grabbed her by the arm.

"Gwen." Peter looked her in her eyes. "You're not weak. You don't have anything to prove. Remember that."

"I know," the blonde responded. "But that guy almost caused me to get crushed by ceiling rubble. I gotta get his ass back for that, at least."

"I just don't want you to do anything stupid," Peter said.

"Don't worry about me. I'd like to think I learned a lesson back there," Gwen commented. She put her mask on and then her hood. "C'mon. We got a bad guy to beat up."

"I gotta say Gwendy," Peter began. "Not really digging the hood on you or Ben."

"What if it rains?" the blonde reasoned.

"...Fair enough."

* * *

**Manhattan - SoHo**

**Night**

After an incredibly awkward ride through the NYC Subway, which included some creep trying to mack on Jessica (to which she punched him unconscious), the Spider-Clan ascended to one of the many high rises in the borough.

"Was it really necessary to practically hospitalize that guy, Jess?" Scarlet Spider (I) asked nervously.

The Red Widow growled. "That a^&hole tried to cop a feel of my t*ts. I know it's a nice rack, but what the f^&k, man?!"

"Maybe ya hardcore after all, Ho," Scarlet Spider (II) complimented, smiling behind his mask.

"You go, Jess. Show that s^&thead who's boss," Ghost Spider said, hi-fiving her.

"Can we get back to the real deal, kiddies?" Spider-Man asked, his tone grouchy. Everyone sans Scarlet Spider (I) rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, whatever. So what's the plan, genius?" Scarlet Spider (II) grumbled.

"Alright, we know there's a possibility that Tombstone might be trying to skip town right now," Spider-Man began. "I want you guys to look out for anything on the streets that's out of the familiar. Maybe a group of cars hauling ass."

"For God's sake, THAT'S your plan?!" Red Widow said, incredulous. "This is Manhattan! A parade through the streets right now wouldn't be all out of the familiar! This is a wild goose chase!"

"You got any ideas, little miss wise-ass?!" Spider-Man retorted.

"Dudes!" the spider-ling in the blue hoodie rang out, making everyone present turn toward him. "Can we save the battle banter for, I dunno, the actual battle?!"

"You're right, Ben," his clo-no, brother-conceded. "It's just that I'm kinda tired and I'd rather be at home, finishing my trig homework and going to sleep. Most likely on the floor."

Ghost Spider huffed out and motioned to her backpack that she had on. "How can you be so sure that this stuff isn't gonna kill somebody?"

"It worked on the plant back home," Spider-Man replied.

"Plants and human beings are totally different, bug-boy," Ghost Spider sniped.

*SPIDER-SENSE TINGLING*

"I...I feel somethin'," the second Scarlet Spider said, holding his hand to his head. "It's tellin' me to go this way." He ran swiftly and jumped to the next high rise, with the rest of the Spider-Clan following suit.

"I feel it too," the Red Widow said. "You think-"

"-I don't think. I know!" he snapped back.

The group all web swung together for a few blocks until they landed on the rooftop of another high rise, having travelled a ways from before.

"What's the problem, Kaine?" Spider-Man asked.

"I dunno. It feels like we should be right here, but I don't see s&*t," he replied, looking around.

Ghost Spider was also as perplexed as the rest of them until the tingling in her head increased with an intensity not felt before. She moved to the ledge of the rooftop and looked down to see a group of three black cars; the tires of the cars squealed and nearly crashed into other people on the road.

"Guys, down there," Ghost Spider alerted, pointing at the scene. They all looked down at the scene and then back at each other, nodding.

The Spider-Clan jumped off the roof and all swung in pursuit of the three car caravan.

"Hey!" Spider-Man began, "What do you say we really ruin these guys' day?"

"Totally! Let's do it!" Red Widow cheered.

As they swung, both Scarlet Spiders landed on top of the third car and webbed the tires, making the car stop in place. Scarlet Spider (II) punched a hole through the roof and took out the driver, holding him by the neck.

"What up, son?" Scarlet Spider (II) quipped, making the driver pale in fear.

Spider-Man and the Red Widow stood on the roof of the second car, which swayed side to side to try and buck them off.

"A hell of a ride, am I right?" Spider-Man joked.

"Like a roller coaster!" Red Widow joked back. "I like it! The view's great up here!"

After a few more attempts to buck them off, Spider-Man and the Red Widow looked at each other. "Aaaaand ride over," the two spider-lings said, shooting out their webs toward adjacent buildings and pulling against the car, making it stop.

Ghost Spider landed on the leading car's windshield and peered through it, seeing the mildly surprised face of Tombstone. She waved at him and everyone else inside. "Hi boys," she greeted in mock joy. "Sorry I'm late. The subway tunnels just get real congested, y'know. Where you off to? I wanna join."

Ghost Spider jumped from the hood to in front of the car, holding the car back from going with her bare hands; the tires squealed against the tension of the spider-girl holding it back.

"You guys are really in a hurry," she commented.

The tires' squealing came to an end and Ghost Spider jumped back once more; she saw two to three men jump out of the car, all of them armed with machine guns. She sprinted toward them with supreme agility and spun web toward them, knocking the machine guns out of their hands. She held all the webbed up machine guns.

"Didn't your mommies tell you not to play with dangerous stuff like this?" Ghost Spider quipped.

The three men all rushed toward her; Ghost Spider slid under one of them while hitting him in the groin. She quickly got up and slugged the next one in the face, knocking him onto the pavement and roundhouse kicked the last one, drawing blood from his mouth and sending him into unconsciousness.

Ghost Spider looked up to see the large, albino, enhanced approaching her with a smile on his face. "Came back for the rematch, huh youngblood?" Tombstone asked.

The white spider-ling got back into a defensive position with her fists raised. "Show me what you got, baldy!"

* * *

Spider-Man and the Red Widow are currently fighting off a group of six men, a couple of them with silver luster on their skin.

"You were right, Spider-Dude!" Red Widow said, judo flipping one of them men into another. "The drug really is resilient!"

"Tell me something I don't know!" he retorted, narrowly ducking under one of the enhanced men's hits. Unfortunately, the Red Widow ended up catching it, and was sent flying back.

"Owww..." Red Widow groaned, rubbing her forehead. She recollected herself and sprinted back into the fray, jump kicking one guy off of her 'brother'.

"Thanks," Spider-Man said, elbowing one guy in the face.

"No prob!"

* * *

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

That is the sound of one of the henchmen flying into a street pole, courtesy of Scarlet Spider (II).

The gruff spider-ling grabbed a nearby trashcan and hit another one of the henchmen with it, making the trash inside also fall onto him. "F&*kin' nasty," Scarlet Spider (II) commented.

*BANG*

He jumped over a bullet from one of the men's guns, to which his arm was webbed by the blue hoodie Scarlet Spider, who proceeded to wrap him in a cocoon and toss him into a garbage dumpster.

"Now you think about what you've done, mister!" Scarlet Spider (I) commented.

"LOOK OUT!" Scarlet Spider (II) shouted, lunging toward the 'younger'; he unleashed his stingers and stabbed a henchmen behind the other spider-ling in the side, then punched him unconscious.

"S&*T!" Scarlet Spider (I) exclaimed, looking down at the growing pool of blood underneath the man.

"Eh, he'll be fine," the second Scarlet Spider said. "Don't ever say I didn't do nothin' for ya, Wuss."

"Yeah." Without even looking behind him, Scarlet Spider (I) judo flipped a guy onto the pavement and stomped on his chest, knocking him out.

* * *

Tombstone and Ghost Spider are now engaged with each other. The spider-girl has just ripped a door off the car beside her and chucked it at Tombstone, knocking off his balance; she lunges toward him and tackles him onto the ground, pummeling him with her fists.

"Son of a bitch!" she shouts.

Tombstone effortlessly kicks Ghost Spider off him, propelling her back a few feet. In retaliation, she shoots out a web toward him, which he yanks and brings her directly toward him. Tombstone punches her down and attempts to do it once more, but she narrowly catches the punch and twists his arm. She somersaults over him and fumbles to get the fire extinguisher out of her backpack.

"How about we make this more fair, huh?" Ghost Spider comments. Tombstone takes out a large chain and attempts to hit her with it, but she dodges and weaves under and over it.

"Come on, Lonnie! You must be losing your touch," she snips.

As soon as Ghost Spider takes the fire extinguisher out, Tombstone's chain hits her hands, making her drop it. Tombstone wraps his chain around her neck and begins strangling her.

"This seem familiar, don't it?" Tombstone commented, tightening his grip on the chain.

The strangulation makes Ghost Spider sink to a knee, trying desperately to stop it. _No. No no no, not again! _she internalized.

"It can only go one way, youngblood," Tombstone spoke. "Face it. It's over." He tightened his hold on her.

Ghost Spider's eyes under her mask begin to roll into the back of her head until the chain around her neck breaks. She gasps for air and sees Spider-Man and the Red Widow taking on Tombstone.

"Come on! My momma hits better than that!" Red Widow taunted, dodging one of Tombstone's punches.

"Ok, you don't wanna be friendly?" Spider-Man began, webbing both of Tombstone's fists together. "There you go!"

The big man growls and breaks the webbing; before he can approach Spider-Man, the sound of a fire extinguisher spewing out a greenish air erupts and it blinds him.

Tombstone coughed as he inhaled the agent. He felt a punch to his face that was heavier than he was used to. "W-what's goin' on?" he asked, still blinded. "I..I feel funny."

Ghost Spider sprinted from the shadows and struck at Tombstone once more, making him fall onto the ground; as he got back up, he was greeted to another strike from Ghost Spider sprinting out of the shadows, but this time, she kicked him.

"How's it feel?" Tombstone's vision became blurry and he couldn't tell exactly where the voice was coming from.

*POW*

Another hit sent him flying into the black car. Opening his eyes, he saw Ghost Spider hovering over him, her entire posture screaming fury. "Now I guess you're mortal," she commented. She grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up. "How's it feel? Gonna give it up, now?

Tombstone chuckled at her bravado. "Threat of death? Makes it more thrilling."

"I'm not gonna kill you baldy," Ghost Spider began. It was at this moment that both Scarlet Spiders, Spider-Man, and the Red Widow all suspended Tombstone up in the air with webbing attached to two street lamps.

"Now you just stay there and wait for the nice cops to come get you. K?" Scarlet Spider (I) quipped.

"Wait!" Tombstone exclaimed, prompting the group to look at him. "You might got beef with me, but you leave my Janice out of this. You hear me?!"

"I know," Ghost Spider answered. "She's innocent. Sort of. Point is, we're not gonna f&*k with her."

* * *

**On the rooftops of Manhattan**

The Spider-Clan were all recuperating from the previous battle on a random high rise rooftop, with groans and sighs heard all around.

"Dude. My head is killing me," Jessica complained. "Thanks for letting me catch that hit for you, Peter."

"Oh stop whining, Jess. You didn't die," Peter sniped back, prompting Jessica to roll her eyes.

"Thanks for saving my bacon out there, Kaine," Ben said.

"Don't mention it. Ever," Kaine threatened; the smirk on his face told that it wasn't malicious.

Peter stepped over to Gwen, who spat out blood from her mouth. "S^&t," she said.

"You'll be ok, Gwendy," Peter said, patting her on the knee.

"Thanks." Gwen looked at Peter. "You remember a few nights ago, about all that crazy stuff I said? I just wanted to say-"

"I'm sorry," Peter and Gwen apologized in unison. The two looked at each other in confusion.

"What? No, I'm sorry for being so insecure and prideful. That was way out of line," Gwen said.

"I'm sorry for bringing up your dad. Now that was more out of line," Peter replied.

"T-the point is: I-I shouldn't have been so angry. I...I was just tired of feeling so helpless and powerless. I thought you thought I was weak," Gwen elaborated, a tone of sadness in her voice.

Peter hugged his girlfriend. "I would never think that you're weak. I never have. You don't have anything to prove, Gwendy."

"From now on: we protect and look after each other," Gwen said softly. "I care about so much, Peter."

"I know you do. So do I," he responded/

Gwen nodded and sighed as Peter rubbed her back. The two broke away and smiled at each other, although Peter raised an eyebrow at Gwen's smile.

"What?" she asked.

"Um...you might wanna look in a mirror," Peter suggested, struggling to hold back laughter.

Gwen, perplexed, rummaged around in her backpack and took out a compact mirror; what she saw made her eyes widen. "Uh...I-I gotta go!" she stammered. "Catch you in about another month."

Peter and his siblings watched as the blonde dived from the ledge of the rooftop and web swung away.

* * *

So to reiterate, that's my story.

Listen up! I'm Gwen Stacy and this week has been a f^&kin' roller coaster. I'm not sure if I'm ever gonna forget about these moments. I was going crazy with power, nearly died in a collapsing building, and I beat up some steroid abusing freaks. And now, I just found out that I got a tooth gap from that fight!

Joy.

These powers are not something to pal around...ok, yeah they are. But sometimes. What these powers are really for? To help people. Like I said earlier, there's a lot of crime in the Big Rotten Apple and I intend to stop it.

After all, when you can do great things, but you choose not to, bad things tend to happen. I take that to heart. I couldn't help my father all those years ago, so now I have to help everyone.

Who am I?

Gwen Stacy, the Ghost Spider.

* * *

**Phew. That was a long time coming. Just been so distracted by many other things.**

**Read and Review.**


	37. INTERMISSION

**Gwen Stacy and the Effectiveness of Therapy**

"Therapy?"

"Yep."

"You're dead serious, aren't you Mom?"

"About as serious as a heart attack."

It was somewhere near Midtown Manhattan, Gwen noticed. For about an hour, her and her mother had argued back and forth about this in the car driving up there; of course, since it was her mother, she had the last word and the final say in all this foolishness. At least in Gwen's eyes.

The building itself was a pristine, practically sterile looking white, with a short stairway and columns on both the left and right side.

"Why do you want me to be here?" Gwen asked.

Helen turned her head to the right to look at Gwen. "I worry about you, Gwen. I worry a lot. You hardly ever talk to me anymore, you're secretive, you're gone for hours at a time-"

"I didn't hear you complaining before," Gwen retorted.

"I mean, you also pick fights at school-"

"I didn't start that fight! I told you that already!" Gwen snapped.

"That isn't the point, Gwendolyne," Helen said sternly, making the younger blonde shrink a little. Helen's eyes softened at the sight. "Then, there's your fixation on that Spider-Man guy..."

"What does he have to do with any of this?" Gwen questioned.

"If it wasn't for him, your father would still be alive," Helen growled.

Gwen sighed at the comment. "I know you miss Dad, Mom," Gwen began. "I do too. Every single day. But blaming Spider-Man isn't gonna help things."

"So you think if that wall crawling little...good-for-nothing never showed up-"

"-then New York would be much worse off, not better," Gwen interrupted. "He's trying to protect this city. If he weren't around, I'd probably be dead by now. Trust me when I say that he's a good guy."

Helen huffed out and gripped the steering wheel tightly. "She's waiting inside. I'll be back to get you in an hour and a half."

Gwen stepped out of the car and closed the door harshly; the window nearly shattered from her enhanced strength. She walked up the building's steps with her hands in the pockets of her green trench coat and entered through the automated doors.

Gwen walked through the main office and saw a brunette woman at the receptionist desk chewing bubble gum. "Can I help you?" the woman asked in a rude tone.

"I'm Gwen Stacy. Here to see, uh, Dr. Karla Sophie, Sofite, something like that," Gwen said, forgetting the name.

"Oh, ya mean Dr. Sofen?" the receptionist replied. "Hang on."

She pressed the button on the intercom and said "Ya one o'clock's here, Doc."

"Thanks, Becky. Send her up here," a smooth voice on the other line said.

"Third floor," Becky told Gwen, who shrugged and made her way up there.

Gwen made her way up to the second floor and entered a well furnished room with a leather couch, a leather chair, and a gorgeous blonde sitting in said leather chair. The woman looked up from her clipboard at Gwen.

"I can only assume you're Helen Stacy's daughter Gwen?" she asked to which Gwen nodded.

"I'm Dr. Sofen. Sit down while I get this ready," the older blonde said.

Gwen sat down on the leather couch, rubbing the exterior. "Nice couch, lady. What porno movie set did you drag this off of?"

"The 120 Days of Sodom," Dr. Sofen replied, her voice dry. She sat down on her chair and placed a recorder on the table near the leather couch. "For quality assurance, this session will be recorded as is. The only people allowed to hear this are me and you."

"Confidentiality agreement?" Gwen questioned.

"Exactly." Dr. Sofen pulled out her pen and clipboard once more.

"Look, I know you've probably heard this a million times, and I'm sure you're really nice, but I don't need therapy," Gwen said.

"Mmhmm, the song of the truly desperate," Dr. Sofen replied, rolling her eyes. "Onto business. From what I've heard, you were suspended from school recently for, as your mother put it, 'Kicking the living daylights out of another girl'. Is that right?"

"Th-that girl deserved it!" Gwen replied, cursing herself inside for stammering.

"How come?"

"Sally Avril was a girl who had been tormenting me ever since I started high school," Gwen began. "Snide remarks, public embarrassment. It wasn't only me; my friend Betty, who I swear to God should be the one here, was her favorite target. It just wouldn't end."

"So you felt you had to put a stop to it?" Dr. Sofen questioned.

"Who wouldn't?!"

"Your determination to help your friend is admirable, if not slightly overblown," Dr. Sofen said.

"Overblown?" Gwen said, confused.

"Was it really necessary to break a few of Miss Avril's ribs?"

"I was standing up for my friend. That bitch knows what she did," Gwen growled.

"I see." Dr. Sofen paused to write something down on her clipboard. "I also heard that recently, your father passed away."

Gwen's eyes widened. "What of that? It was three years ago."

"Did you ever get a chance to properly process that?"

Gwen's eyebrows furrowed in thought. "To be very honest...I don't know. I can't really say if I did."

"Here's my theory," Dr. Sofen began. "Your assault on this Sally Avril was never about standing up for your friend. It was all about your unresolved feelings about your father's death. Before you try to interrupt me and scream denial, hear me out: three years of pent-up pain can come out at the most inopportune, sudden times. Seeing Sally mistreat your friend was what caused your righteous anger to boil over into full on fury."

Gwen folded her hands and looked down at the ground. "I mean...s^&t."

For the next few minutes, Gwen and Dr. Sofen talked about various issues concerning Gwen, which included her friends, the nightmares, and the growing distance between Gwen and her mother.

"Y'know lady," Gwen started. "I think I know someone who'd really benefit from seeing you."

"Who?"

"My friend Betty," Gwen said. "Good Lord, she's a giant ball of whack-a-doodle."

"As a psychologist," Dr. Sofen began, "this type of advice would go against everything I stand for, but from what you've told me about Betty, there's only two things that can help her."

"What would those be?"

"A drink or a good eating out," Dr. Sofen replied, which made both blondes laugh loudly.

Perhaps therapy wouldn't be too bad after all.

* * *

**The Power, The Kingdom, and the Glory**

Mary Jane Watson and Betty Brant were both in one of the few record/musical instrument stores in Queens; the redhead was currently searching for a replacement string for her guitar and Betty was searching through the random vinyl records section.

"You sure you don't need anything for your bass?" M.J. asked.

Betty shook her head. "Nope. I keep everything about Ruth up to date and on point. As you should."

M.J. rolled her eyes at her friend; of course she'd name her bass guitar 'Ruth'. There's nothing about Betty that screams 'calm'.

The blonde girl as usual had spritzed her hands with hand sanitizers before touching anything inside. "Betty, you don't have to keep doing that," M.J. told her.

"You can never be too sure, Mary," Betty replied. "So many germs..."

"Try not to have a nervous breakdown in here, please," M.J. said, begging. "I don't wanna get kicked out of yet another music store."

"It's not my fault, Mary," Betty replied defensively. "I just see so much dust and grime, it's like...what the hell, man?"

"Aw, jus' lay off di gyal, Gingerbread. She can't help it," a voice said. M.J. and Betty turned around to see a tall, dark-skinned, voluptuous young woman with both dreads and strands of normal, straight hair in a bun approaching them. M.J. smiled and walked toward the other woman, whom she hugged fiercely.

"Glory!" M.J. exclaimed as the dark skinned woman returned her hug.

"Good bless mi eyesight, Mary Jane," Glory replied, grinning. Her voice held a heavy Caribbean tilt to it. "Who yuh friend ova there?"

"Yeah. Oh!" M.J. said, breaking the hug. She motioned over to Betty. "This is Betty. She plays bass for my band. Betty, this is Gloria Grant, but we just call her Glory."

Betty could only gaze at the sight of Glory; the dark skinned girl had to be somewhere between six foot one and six foot tow. She nervously waved at Glory, who approached her and hugged her also, practically lifting her off the ground.

"Any friend ah Gingerbread friend ah mi!" Glory cheered.

"O-ok," Betty squeaked before Glory put her down. The trio walked to the other side of the wall, looking at various instruments. "How do you know her, Mary?"

"Dude! Glory and me were best friends back when I lived in Brooklyn," M.J. said. "I'd go over her house every day. Until...well, you know."

"Got it," Betty said, not wanting to push this any further.

"Mi dun seen yuh lil videos on YouTube," Glory began. "Was real funny when yuh kicked dat one man, Sunshine."

"Sunshine?" Betty said, confused.

"She does that with everyone," M.J. explained. "As you heard, she calls me 'Gingerbread.'"

"Yuh all got skill, but yuh missin' one thing," Glory said.

"A record deal?" M.J. joked.

"Strobe lights?" Betty rang out.

"Eh eh," Glory said. "Atmosphere. Sum time, it sound like it don't 'ave no kinda direction. Oddah time, it be too harsh. Next time yuh do an oddah song, it gotta be somethin' more like...smooth."

"Smooth, huh?" M.J. said. "I dunno, Glory. We're a rock band, not some f^&kin' R&B group."

"It be all about tryin' somethin' different, Gingerbread. Look, it tek time to find yuh sound. Maybe mi can help yuh out a lil bit, eh? Eh?" Glory offered, grinning.

"Really? You wanna be part of the Mary Janes?" M.J. said, astonished. "Huh, wasn't really expecting this today."

"Yuh band name a lil full o' yuh'self, but mi knew dat about yuh anyways," Glory teased.

"Wait, don't you still live in Brooklyn?" M.J. wondered.

"Eh eh," Glory replied. "Mi and mi family move a few months ago. Now we here."

"Convenient," Betty commented. "What do you play?"

Glory made a gesture with her hands that mimed a piano. "Keyboard, Sunshine," she said. She then made a gesture miming percussion. "Or ah vibraphone."

"Wow, ok then. I mean, I knew you played a keyboard, but a vibraphone?" M.J. remarked. "Guess you learn something new every day."

"Yuh do," Glory replied. "So, when mi can meet yuh for dem rehearsal, eh?"

"Once Gwen gets ungrounded," M.J. sulked.

Glory raised an eyebrow. "Who dem?"

"She's the girl on the drums," Betty answered for Mary Jane.

"Mm."

It took a few minutes but M.J. finally found the replacement string for her guitar, which cost about fifty one dollars; the redhead complained that it was a rip off, but she paid anyways. Her, Betty, and the newly reunited Glory exited the store and were now walking the sidewalks of Queens.

"Where yuh be goin' off to now, Gingerbread?" Glory asked.

"We're getting shirts made for everyone," the redhead answered. "Coordination is key when it comes to things like this."

Glory looked down at Betty, smirking. "Yuh tol' her dat, dint ya Sunshine?"

"Of course. Where else could she have gotten it?" Betty bragged.

"Hey!" M.J. exclaimed, offended.

It looks like the Mary Janes have gained a new member.

* * *

**Miles Beyond**

_"What's your name, kid?"_

_"M-miles," the kid stammered._

I never forgot about that day months ago; I was just runnin' some errands for my ma and like an idiot, I went down a alleyway and all of a sudden, some sicko came tryin' to get weird with me! Crazy, right son? Then, a spider-guy in red and black came and whooped the daylights out that jerkass. I saw his face too; I ain't forgot it, son. If there's one thing you can say about me, it's that I never forget a face.

Oh my bad, where's my manners? I'm Miles Morales, I'm about to be twelve years old and I live in Brooklyn, son. You can probably tell by the way of speakin'.

Right now, I'm just in my room, gatherin' a bunch of stuff like spray cans and all that and slingin' it behind me. My room is covered in a bunch of posters of hip hop artists (like Post Malone and Tyler the Creator, for example) and I got a whole bunch of video games; COD is where it's at, son!

I put on my red hoodie and prepare to walk out the door, but I stop and think; ever since that day, my pops, Jeff's his name if you curious, man, he's just been, like, real, real overprotective. I mean, I can understand; he is a cop and that kinda instinct sticks wit' you and all that, but come on! I can handle myself! I'ma be thirteen next year and that's almost a grown man, son.

Shut up! In my world, it is.

You know what? Eff it. I'ma just head out the door right here. Deal wit' my pops and all that.

I walk through my livin' room and see my ma (Rio's her name) messin' around wit' the TV, tryin' to make it come in clear. She looks up to see me. "Miles! Mijo, come here!" she said, gesturin' for me to come.

I came over to her and the back of the TV had all the wiring pulled out. "I've been trying to fix this damned thing for ten minutes and nothing's working," Ma complained.

"For real, ma?" I asked in disbelief. She nodded and I knelt down to see what the problem was. Scannin' my eyes all around, I noticed that some of the wiring was in the wrong place or was torn. I grabbed some of the wires and cross tied them together with other wires that were exposed; then, some of the circuitry that was misaligned, I put back into the right place.

When my ma turned the TV back on, picture was clear. "Thank you, mijo," she said, hugging' me and rubbin' my curly fro; yeah, I let my hair grow out, son. So what?

"No problem, no problem," I said back. We broke apart and I looked around, seein' no sign of my pops. "Where's pops at?"

"He called me earlier today and said that he was gonna be swamped with a new case coming in," Ma said. "Honestly, I think being a cop is gonna run him into the ground someday."

"Hey, come on, ma! Don't say that," I replied. "Pops out there savin' people just like the Scarlet Spider."

My ma's eyes widened at that name. "Araña escarlata," she whispered. Yeah, I'm half-Latino if you couldn't tell. "Miles, I heard stories about him. He's a crazy man."

"Crazy?!" I exclaimed, shocked. "He's just like pops: savin' people and beatin' up bad dudes. What's crazy about that?"

"Just be careful out there," she said back.

I sighed. "Ma, look. I know you and pops always worryin' about me, but don't. I was kinda lost in Manhattan, but this is Brooklyn. Safer here, son."

Ma nodded at me and I left up out of my house. Finally.

Walkin' down the sidewalks with the sounds of Post Malone in my ear, I think back to that crazy gas incident a few months back; I was just gettin' home from school, then all of a sudden, some green gas showed up outta nowhere and...you'll see in a little bit.

I'm walkin' through a short alleyway and I stare up the wall of the right building; turnin' my head both ways and makin' sure the coast is clear, I put my left hand on the wall, followed by my right hand. I'm pullin' myself up on the wall, but the crazy thing is:

I'm not fallin' down. I'm crawlin' on the wall.

You heard it right here from the source, son. I'm a human spider. Like a Spider-Kid or somethin...

I crawled all the way up and made it to the rooftop of the building; I'm starin' off into the distance and I can see Prospect Park is not too far from here. I ran and jumped to the next rooftop over and landed near a billboard. I took out the red and black spray paint cans from out my backpack and start sprayin' on the board. It was gonna be a red and black spider logo with a web pattern all around. I know taggin' is considered a crime, but it shouldn't be; it's art, son.

Grinnin', I think about what that gas has given me; man, my friends Anya, Sam, and Kamala is gonna be so jealous, son!

* * *

**Red Widow and Chat Noir**

"Come on, Spider! Catch me if you can!"

"Ugh, it's always this with you!"

Jessica Drew Parker, alias the Red Widow, was currently engaging with the thief known as the Black Cat, only this time, things were a tad different. While yes, they were on their familiar territory of every damned rooftop in Manhattan, it just wasn't the same.

Notably, the platinum blonde wasn't hauling ass from rooftop to rooftop with the spider-girl swinging after her and vowing to take her to jail. Also, as the Black Cat discovered, there seemed to be little to no mirth in the Red Widow; no silly reactions or flustered attitude or nothing.

The Cat frowned at the Spider. "What's with the attitude here?" she questioned, inching closer to the Red Widow.

Widow, on the other hand, pushed Black Cat away. "We haven't seen each other in weeks, months even, and this is how we end back up? You robbing and stealing again? This is starting to get old."

The cat burglar shrugged. "Hey, it's what I do. The thrill, the rush, what else can you ask for?"

"But still," the Red Widow beckoned. "Is this the only thing you have going for you, kitty?"

Black Cat looked down at the red ruby she was holding and sighed; of course, she figured it would come to this someday. "The way you say it makes me sound like a loser," she said, her voice bitter.

"I didn't mean it that way," Red Widow replied.

"Oh bulls&*t, yes you did," Black Cat snapped. "God, you sound just like my mom sometimes."

Jessica froze at that remark; it appeared that she learned something new about the cat burglar even if she didn't intend to. "Kitty," Jessica began. "I swear to God, I-I didn't mean to come off as a total judgmental bitch. You gotta believe me on that one."

"Uh-huh, yeah sure," Black Cat dismissed. "You know, if she were here right now, I can just see her saying 'This isn't good for you Felicia!' 'You shouldn't be like your father, Felicia!' Bitch and moan, bitch and moan!"

Red Widow fidgeted, not knowing how exactly to approach this situation. "I-it just sounds like she's concerned about you."

"Concerned? Pssh, gimme a break," Black Cat sneered. "She doesn't even know I'm gone."

Red Widow came and placed her hand on the Cat's shoulder. "Sounds like you have a whole plethora of issues. Perhaps you need some therapy."

Black Cat groaned and sank down onto the ledge of the roof. "Stuff's been going on lately, spider. I don't even know if my friend Jessica can help."

"If you tried talking to her, then you'd find out. She's a pretty reasonable person, so there's that," Red Widow reasoned, pumping herself up.

"Maybe," the platinum blonde said. She placed the red ruby into Red Widow's hands, giving it back to her. "Take this. I can find another like it some other day."

Black Cat prepared to jump off the rooftop ledge and into the night before the Red Widow exclaimed "Wait!"

The platinum blonde turned around to see the brunette in front of her; Jessica raised her hands to take off Felicia's mask, prompting the thief to gasp. "Wh-what're you doing?" she asked.

Jessica peered into Felicia's lime green eyes. "I really want you to think about some things, kitty. I know this isn't the only thing you're good at. There's more to life than this."

Felicia sighed and took her mask back. "I-I think this is the only thing I'm good at." She put her mask back and afterwards hugged Jessica.

"There's something big going down soon," she whispered into the Red Widow's ear. "A real big time kinda guy is heading to New York. You better be prepared."

Red Widow returned the hug and stared up at the starry sky; whatever was out there, she was sure to be ready alongside her friends.

* * *

**Phew. This is the intermission to the whole story. A break from the action.**


End file.
